6 November 2026

Archive for December, 2020

Lovely Hike

Friday, December 25th, 2020
Sharp-shinned Hawk, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 December 2020.
Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Slept well last night, so got a bit of a late start this morning. A morning much like yesterday’s, with many of the same species. Noteworthy was a Sharp-shinned Hawk on the bluff—very likely the same bird I saw the other day there.

We continued up the trail a good ways before I realized I’d lost the grip off my left boot, so I retraced my steps all the way back to the bluff, where I found it. And also the sharpie, still there.

The rest of our hike brought many magpies and chickadees, a few finches, and the (near-)daily Downy Woodpecker.

A lovely Christmas hike.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:56 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Black-billed Magpie*
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
4. Sharp-shinned Hawk
5. House Finch**
6. Downy Woodpecker
7. Spotted Towhee*
8. Pine Siskin (v)
9. Rock Pigeon*

Elsewhere

10. Northern Flicker (v)

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

Titmouse

Thursday, December 24th, 2020
Juniper Titmouse, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 24 December 2020.
Juniper Titmouse.

Another nippy hike, much like yesterday’s, but fewer clouds—nearly clear. Breezy at the trailhead, but the breeze calmed soon enough. Ran into the Downy Woodpecker again, and had a few chickadees, but not many individual birds this day. (E.g., only three juncos.)

Had sun toward the end of it, warming things. Then I heard the voice of a Juniper Titmouse. And somehow even managed to track it down.

Kind of a perfect Christmas Eve overall.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:50 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Black-billed Magpie (v)**
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v)
3. Black-capped Chickadee
4. Rock Pigeon*
5. Pine Siskin (v)
6. Spotted Towhee (v)
7. Downy Woodpecker
8. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
9. House Finch (v)
10. Juniper Titmouse

Elsewhere

11. American Robin

Mammals

Mule Deer

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

Silence

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020
Spotted Towhee, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 23 December 2020.
Spotted Towhee.

The trail was quiet this nippy morning. The quietest I can recall, in fact. Five species for most of it (mostly subtle vocalizations), and a few more on the lower trail at the end. Just a couple chickadees and magpies in the high places.

Saw a cottontail and a couple of deer. Spied footprints of both those species, plus coyote—and, of course, human and dog.

Seems like kind of a silent in-between time, these days after the solstice.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:48 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Black-capped Chickadee**
2. Black-billed Magpie*
3. House Finch**
4. Rock Pigeon
5. Spotted Towhee
6. Pine Siskin (v)
7. Dark-eyed Junco
8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay

Elsewhere

9. European Starling

Mammals

Mountain Cottontail
Mule Deer

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

 
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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