About two-thirds of the way through my lovely hike with dog this morning, as we made our way along a familiar deer trail up among the junipers, I heard the distinctive kip-kip-kip-kip-kip! of a Sharp-shinned Hawk. We stopped. I didn’t see the hawk, and I couldn’t even tell how far away it was.
But I’ve learned to look for other birds who might indicate where we might find the little hawk. (I’m imagining a person moving silently to a closed door and pointing urgently with eyes wide.) Nearly always a hummingbird will head to where the danger is. So will scrub-jays if they’re about (they were). They converged around a juniper, and out popped the hawk—who flew across the trail and dove into another juniper.
Two jays, a hummingbird, and a Spotted Towhee ended up there, too. The hawk hunkered down deep in the tree—but I asked Jack to stay and snuck around to where the sun was behind me. Took about a minute, but I finally managed to contort myself in such a way that I could grab a quick photo of an interesting moment in time.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:04 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
On this slightly cloudy, breezy morning’s hike with my dog Jack, we encountered a little falcon called American Kestrel. I encountered the usual birds we encounter on these beloved hikes of ours. And near the end of our hike, I spied a lovely brown bird called Vesper Sparrow.
Most folks seem enthralled with bright-colored, fancy birds—like the ostentatious males of many species. I’ve come to love the subtler visual beauty of the less flashy birds. When I got a look at this Vesper Sparrow through my camera, I whispered aloud, “So beautiful.”
Great Basin Gopher Snake.
This morning we also encountered my first snake in my year-plus in Utah: a Great Basin Gopher Snake. It was kinda beautiful, too.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:56 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
This morning the wind blew and the temperature was cooler than the past several. Jack and I hiked for a good while without my listing more than a couple birds. Very quiet—as it has been lately.
But by the end of our hike, I had more than a dozen species—including a random Mountain Chickadee. Plus, a couple good looks at Black-chinned Hummingbirds (which have been scarce for a while).
All in all, a good day.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:59 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.