Fireweed, Jones Nose Trail, Mt. Greylock
In Pittsfield over night, I took the opportunity to drive up Mt. Greylock early in the morning. NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE (at 5:30 a.m.).
I'd heard that Jones Nose was a good birding spot, so I spent most of my time there. Fireweed was in spectacular bloom and the assembled bumblebees were quite loud.
The area was birdy indeed, as you can hear from this recording. Snatches of veery, wood thrush, towhee, yellowthroat, redstart, song sparrow and most prominently, black and white warbler (the squeaky wheel song).
Also caught the song of an unseen mourning warbler. I didn't manage a recording of the whole song (a yellowthroat overlapped it) but I did get the "churr churr" part.
Favorite sound of the morning: a family of common ravens flying by so closely you can hear the whirr of their wings. And their ungodly screams.
And what July post would be complete without some insect life.
It's nice to see crane flies in their natural habitat (instead of bouncing around in the corner of some ceiling).
Here's a pretty yellow-headed wasp moth (probably Virginia Ctenucha).
And fritillary butterflies were quite common on the mountain, aggressively chasing away anything in their path (I'm guessing Aphrodite below)
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