This morning’s hike with dog under dramatic, semi-overcast skies was very quiet. Few birds beyond the trailhead other than towhees and juncos and scrub-jays, and no daily Downy Woodpecker for the second straight day. But again we took a stroll down the lower trail, where birds were busy and abundant, thanks to residential feeding stations, I’m pretty sure.
Noteworthy to me were several Cassin’s Finches. I’m still getting to know these birds, learning to ID them, to tell them apart from House Finches and such. But today a few cooperative individuals perched for me. Also had a Mourning Dove down there.
But the most amazing moment came later, when I stepped out onto my back deck to watch what looked like a couple sparrows chasing each other. As I stood there, unmoving, a Spotted Towhee flitted up onto the railing not three feet away and perched for a second or two, its eyes seeming to look me up and down. I had my camera but didn’t budge. I knew it would fly. And just having that little bird (they look smaller close up, for some reason) so near thrilled me immeasurably.
(Sorry I didn’t get a photo.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:47 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee** 2. Black-billed Magpie* (v) 3. House Finch* 4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v) 5. Rock Pigeon* 6. American Goldfinch (v) 7. Spotted Towhee* 8. Dark-eyed Junco* 9. Pine Siskin (v) 10. Cassin’s Finch 11. Mourning Dove 12. Song Sparrow* (v)
Elsewhere
13. Eurasian Collared-dove
Mammals
Red squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
In spring and fall, Dark-eyed Juncos abound in my neighborhood—which includes a few miles of mountain trails just up the street from me. The flocks that were moving around under flurrying skies during my hike this morning with dog lived up to their nickname: “snow bird.” For some moments I watched standing on the snowy ground, reaching its pink beak high, and stripping seeds of a weed stem.
abound in my neighborhood—which includes a few miles of mountain trails just up the street from me. The flocks that were moving around under flurrying skies during my hike this morning with dog lived up to their nickname: “snow bird.” For some moments I watched standing on the snowy ground, reaching its pink beak high, and stripping seeds of a weed stem.
A bunch of other birds made my list this morning also, but juncos were the only only ones who posed.
It was supposed to snow a few inches overnight, but it only snowed about an inch. Not as cold as yesterday, nor as breezy. And birds were out—not many individuals, but a dozen species.
Saw the dependable woodpecker again, but no solitaire. At one point I had two corvids, two sparrows, two tits, two finches, and two woodpeckers.
Scrub-jays were the only birds in the juniper barren, though.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:39 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
