4 November 2024

Archive for September, 2020

’Rumps

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020
Yellow-rumped Warbler, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 30 September 2020.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Migration. This morning’s hike began quiet for maybe the first ten minutes in the mountain shade—then took off in a hurry. So many little birds moving through. Including (of course) a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers.

I’m used to the Myrtle subspecies back east, but I’ve gotten fairly accustomed to the Audubon’s out here in the high desert. This species is among the most abundant in North America, and even in a drought, they’re all over the place just now. Proof of fall migration.

I counted 25 ’rumps this morning (likely an undercount). One cool thing is, I can now ID this bird from its chip note—which is similar, but not identical, to the version back East. (A touch sweeter than the dry chip! of the eastern variety.) Other birds on the move: robins, kinglets, junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Mountain Chickadee. (The latter might be year-round residents, but they’ve sure been flitting around all over the place lately.)

Quite a list today. But I have to say I had the most fun following all the little yellow-rumps flitting around.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:26 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. House Finch**
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. American Robin
4. Pine Siskin
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
6. Yellow-rumped Warbler
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Northern Flicker**
9. Cedar Waxwing
10. Hummingbird (sp)
11. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
12. Downy Woodpecker (v)
13. Mountain Chickadee*
14. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
15. Cooper’s Hawk*
16. Warbling Vireo
17. White-crowned Sparrow
18. Dark-eyed Junco
19. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
20. Eurasian Collared Dove

Elsewhere

21. Black-billed Magpie

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

Mountain Critters

Tuesday, September 29th, 2020
Mountain Chickadee, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 29 September 2020.
Mountain Chickadee.
Mountain Chickadee, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 29 September 2020.
Chickadee in the morning sun.

This morning’s cooperative bird was—much to my surprise—a Mountain Chickadee. It flitted, chattering, up to the bluff where dog and I had paused to look and listen. We stood still, and it approached very near, and I grabbed a few photos.

For some reason this happy episode got me thinking of all the species I’ve seen up there with “mountain” in their names. Mountain Bluebird, for instance, and Mountain Cottontail—even Mountain Coyote (which is more of a subspecies, I guess). I feel sure I’m missing at least one. But I’ve come to appreciate the perfection of that simple yet rich, descriptive term in their common names.

Thanks, little chickadee.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:24 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. House Finch**
2. Black-billed Magpie*
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
4. American Robin**
5. Black-capped Chickadee
6. Yellow-rumped Warbler
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Northern Flicker
9. Mountain Chickadee
10. Sparrow (sp)
11. Rock Wren
12. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
13. Downy Woodpecker (v)
14. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
15. Red-breasted Nuthatch
16. Hummingbird (sp)
17. Pine Siskin

Elsewhere

18. Rock Pigeon

Mammals

Rock Squirrel

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

Many Kinglets

Monday, September 28th, 2020
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 28 September 2020.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

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.

Cassin’s Vireo, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 28 September 2020.
Cassin’s Vireo?

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

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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