Finally—this cool, cloudless early morning during my daily hike with dog—I got a photo of a flicker. Not sure when the last one happened (possibly last spring), but it’s been a while, with a few recent near misses. It popped up randomly in the Russian Olive. Just felt like a bit of serendipity.

Otherwise, very few hike species—nine, to be exact—including a hummingbird I could not ID.

However, oddly, it was a three-hawk day. First came the peregrine I spied before our hike, dining on breakfast atop the utility pole usually occupied by a red-tail. Then came a young Cooper’s I spotted during our hike, trying (but failing) to catch a scrub-jay in the big olive tree. Finally, in afternoon, a red-tail where the peregrine was having breakfast.

I’ll take a three-hawk day any day.

Grandeur Peak Area List
At 7:22 a.m. (8:22 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
2. House Finch**
3. Spotted Towhee
4. Northern Flicker (v)
5. American Robin
6. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
7. Hummingbird (sp?)
8. Cooper’s Hawk
9. Black-capped Chickadee

Elsewhere

10. Peregrine Falcon
11. Red-tailed Hawk

Mammals

Red Squirrel

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
*Voice only elsewhere