We got to the trailhead about ten minutes later this morning than usual. By design, kind of. I wondered if a later start might lead to more action than a hike mostly in the mountain shade.
Right away, the action was pretty great—within about five minutes, I had several species, including a nuthatch, two titmice, a Mountain Chickadee, and a female Downy Woodpecker (later found the male in his usual patch). But then things settled down for much of the rest of the hike.
Until the last hundred yards or so, which brought a flurry of activity: juncos, a Cooper’s Hawk, a singing Townsend’s Solitaire, and two finch species.
Honestly, I doubt the later start had anything to do with it. Still a fun day, though.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:40 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
A quiet hike with Jack this morning for the fourth or fifth straight day. Saw the daily Downy Woodpecker again—always a thrill—but the usual suspects otherwise.
This afternoon, though, as I was about to step out onto the deck to scan for backyard birds, through the window I noticed a starling dining on an old apple. Two, three starlings, in fact. So I eased open the door a crack and snapped way too many photos of the nearest bird. (Starlings look so cool in the sunlight.)
Seems you can always find something cool if you keep your eyes open.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:26 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
Most mornings for the past few weeks I’ve come upon a Downy Woodpecker in the burnt patch along the trail where last summer a powerline fire blackened the landscape over an area of several acres. First that faint tapping I heard belonged to a female of the species—but more recently it’s been a male.
Last week, two days passed without my seeing or hearing the bird, which made me a little nervous; but the past couple days, there its been, drilling for grubs or larvae in the trunks of the scorched scrub oaks.
Nearly always I hear it first, then divine its location and snap a few photos. This morning I was lucky enough to watch it yank a fat yellow morsel from the trunk it was working on.
I’ve truly appreciated this daily meetup with the little downy. Especially what with the pandemic and all.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:29 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
