This morning’s hike with Jack was a little different, in that we traveled in a group of four humans and four dogs. The dogs were friendly and well-behaved, and the humans were looking for wild birds.
And wild birds were found. Not everyone saw every species, but there were plenty to choose from—including two first-of-year (to me) birds: Violet-green Swallow and Gray Flycatcher. (I’d thought at first the flycatcher was a lifer, but turns out I spotted my first last May.) Was a fun time.
Tomorrow will be a summerlike day, so they say. Very likely the best spring migration birding in the week or two to come.
[Aside: Tomorrow afternoon I’m scheduled to give a Zoom slideshow presented by Coastal Mountains Land Trust, facilitated by the Camden (Maine) Public Library, comparing and contrasting the birds and other wildlife of coastal Maine and the Wasatch range. Fun!]
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:30 a.m. (8:30 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
A bird’s been singing for more than a week up little Coyote Canyon, just above where dog and I typically veer off onto the upper deer trail, so we’ve been heading up the gully in search of it. But it’s always kept far enough off trail to make the chase futile. This morning looked at first to be a repeat of this routine—but then the bird flitted down below us up into a maple right along the trail. Just had to sneak quietly down in the direction of its buzzy voice, and there it was.
Nearby was also a Warbling Vireo, a couple other wood-warblers, an accipiter, chippies, buntings, and towhees. It’s a birdy place up there this time of year.
As is just about every place, if you take a walk outside.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:33 a.m. (8:33 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
From their sudden abundance, I’d assumed all the Lazuli Buntings that were going to arrive had arrived already. But this chilly, breezy, slightly drizzly morning brought a whole new batch to the patch. Fifteen individuals in all.
And plenty of other birds were active and abundant. Heard at least two Black-headed Grosbeaks (and saw two for sure, both singers, eyeing each other at a good distance). A pair of hummingbird species, ever-present towhees, gnatcatchers, and the rest. No mammals and few insects, but I’m sure the unsettled weather had something to do with that.
It’s been a late migration compared to last spring’s—I hear this from other areas of the continent, as well. Which, happily, means more to come.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:39 a.m. (8:39 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
