This morning we hiked up the cairn, Jack and I. It’d been a while. It was a very good hike. A cloudless day, warm as spring. We even climbed up above the overlook a hundred feet or so and sat a spell.
Not many birds today, but it didn’t seem to matter much. We both dug the mission, the exertion, the smells, the sights—the views of this miraculous world.
Not bad for a couple ol’ boys.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:39 a.m. (8:39 MDT), I hiked some 1,200 feet up a mountain.
1. Northern Flicker 2. Spotted Towhee 3. American Robin* 4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 5. Rock Pigeon* 6. Black-capped Chickadee 7. House Finch* 8. Black-billed Magpie 9. Cooper’s Hawk
Elsewhere
10. Eurasian Collared-dove
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
On my hike with dog this morning—a nippy hike, with temps in the low- to mid-20s to start—we encountered the usual birds. And a few deer. Above the little shaded canyon, I heard a sweet bird song I didn’t at once recognize. The sound of it inspired me to hurry down in search of its source.
Only a minute or so later the singer changed its tune—to the very familiar chatter of a Juniper Titmouse. I had of course heard both chatter and song before, but the latter only ever followed the first; out of context I whiffed on the ID. But now I had to chase the bird, to try for a photo.
Took a while, but I got it.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:42 a.m. (8:42 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee** 2. Spotted Towhee 3. Lesser Goldfinch (v) 4. House Finch** 5. Rock Pigeon* 6. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 7. Pine Siskin (v) 8. Song Sparrow** (v) 9. American Robin* (v) 10. Juniper Titmouse 11. Black-billed Magpie** (v)
Elsewhere
12. House Sparrow (v)
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
This morning dawned warm and breezy and mostly overcast. Few birds coming up the switchback, and things were quiet up the deer trails—at first.
Then a Red-tailed Hawk appeared, soaring. Not long after, a pair of Golden Eagle’s topped the ridge and hung in the air relatively motionless for a while, facing the wind. Soon enough, then, a pair of ravens showed up in the sky, circling each other as they moved away.
There were also a bunch of Mule Deer. It was a good day.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:42 a.m. (8:42 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Spotted Towhee** 2. American Robin* 3. Black-capped Chickadee** 4. House Finch 5. Rock Pigeon* 6. Red-tailed Hawk 7. Northern Flicker (v) 8. Golden Eagle 9. Common Raven 10. Song Sparrow** (v)
Elsewhere
11. Canada Goose 12. Eurasian Collared-dove 13. House Sparrow (v) 14. European Starling 15. Black-billed Magpie (v) 16. American Crow 17. Mourning Dove
Mammals
Mule Deer Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
