A lot of migration going on this clear, chilly (40s (F)) morning. Clear—but dog and I still spent much of the beginning of the hike in mountain shade.
But birds were moving through even in the shade. Many Yellow-rumped Warblers, many American Robins. A couple of gnatcatchers, a pack of six Mountain Chickadees, and a whole bunch of Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
I heard the slight, abrupt chatter a kinglet down in Coyote Canyon, but it had headed up the leafy slope and was out of photo range, so we continued down a ways before turning back up—and I heard it again, same spot. It occurred to me that the switchback for the high ridge hike was uphill of the bird, so we crept up that steep trail…
…and right into a flock of between sixteen and twenty kinglets. They were everywhere, but always in low tangles of foliage. I bet I stood there ten minutes before I finally got one of those quick-moving critters to stop long enough for a half-way decent portrait.
[Elsewhere, I snagged a pic of what I’m pretty sure was a migrating a Cassin’s Vireo—a lifer for me, if so.]
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:21 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch**
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
3. American Robin**
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Yellow-rumped Warbler
6. Spotted Towhee
7. Northern Flicker
8. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
9. Cassin’s Vireo‡
10. Hummingbird (sp)
11. Pine Siskin (v)
12. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
13. Downy Woodpecker
14. Black-billed Magpie*
15. Mountain Chickadee
16. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Elsewhere
17. Eurasian Collared Dove
18. Rock Pigeon
Mammals
Red Squirrel (v)
v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
‡Lifer
