Hilltop Farm Trip Report
September 3, 2025
Once upon a time, there was an elementary school librarian who retired and found she missed the chattering of little children and the camaraderie of the teaching staff. She reached out to a local nonprofit to connect with people, nature, and to stay physically active. The location is just 1.5 miles from home and an easy commute. Thus began my volunteer tenure at Hilltop Farm in Suffield, CT. I help create and maintain several of our bird-friendly and pollinator gardens (HAS helped with grants) and oversee the Community Garden. I lead this bird walk every year to connect with others in the birding world and to share this property, which has been a vital part of Suffield’s history and now a significant part of my retirement.
Today I led a group of 12, including my husband Tom. All were Hartford Audubon members. Some had visited the property before, others had not. (The Creamery may have had something to do with that.) We were fortunate to have beautiful weather with blue skies, puffy clouds, and a temperature in the low seventies, accompanied by no humidity. I started our walk by admitting I needed everyone’s help to identify birds, as my visual acuity is a bit impaired by cataracts that will soon be removed. I also mentioned that bird calls are not my specialty, even before being diagnosed with hearing loss. But what an understanding group they were! The Hartford Audubon insists you do not have to be the best birder to lead a walk. Share your enthusiasm and knowledge, and the camaraderie of the group will fill in the blanks. This group did just that! We identified 27 species and maybe two yellow warblers in the goldenrod.
We began our walk heading east from the red barn. Gray Catbirds started us off, and goldfinches, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and eastern wood-pewees soon appeared along with cedar waxwings. To the north, on a dead tree, sat a Cooper’s Hawk and some northern flickers. At the bottom of the hill, we followed the wooded trail and slowly approached the inland pond, where one great blue heron and two green herons were across the water. Blue jays, crows, mourning doves, and Carolina wrens provided background chatter when things got quiet. We backtracked through the woods. Some ventured down to the riverbank and saw an osprey flying across the river. We returned to the open field where tobacco was harvested just last week, and the fields are brown and barren now. We walked parallel to the river, spotting robins and a cardinal along the way. We ventured up the hill with a ruby-throated hummingbird and turned right toward the boardwalk, where warbling vireos were high atop the canopy singing. Above the pussy willow arch on the boardwalk, more waxwings were spotted. The fields, now covered with goldenrod and joe pye weed, were summer breeding grounds for bobolinks, meadowlarks, and red-winged blackbirds. We only saw one blackbird today and two tree swallows in this area. We headed west and walked the road by the community garden, seeing goldfinches and song sparrows. One of our gardeners said it was a banner day for hummingbirds this morning, but I think they took an early lunch, as we did not see any while there. Up the hill again, a northern mockingbird was spotted on a post. We visited the Bird and Pollinator Garden (also HAS funded). A grackle, a starling, and a turkey vulture can be included in our observations.
You are familiar the saying, “The early bird catches the worm.” I may have to change it to, “The late bird catches the worm.” After everyone had left and we were packing the car, I spotted a flock of eastern bluebirds in the black cherry tree behind us. Sure enough, one of them was on the ground catching a worm!
Joan Heffernan
