This morning was another quiet one. Exceedingly so—once we climbed the switchback and moved away from the neighborhood. Breezy, overcast, a temperature hovering around freezing. A few nice surprises: a calling nuthatch, singing chickadees, the sudden overflight of a raven.
But the surprise of the day came late. As I was sneaking out onto the deck to photograph a collared-dove, just as I raised my camera, the dove left its perch and flew away. And no wonder, as just then a Cooper’s Hawk flapped up onto a nearby utility line and stood there on one foot, scanning the yard.
Within a few seconds, it flew away.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:51 a.m. (8:51 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Spotted Towhee 2. House Finch** (v) 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v) 4. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 5. Rock Pigeon* 6. Song Sparrow** (v) 7. Black-capped Chickadee 8. Dark-eyed Junco 9. Northern Flicker** 10. Common Raven 11. Black-billed Magpie* 12. American Robin** (v)
A similarly nippy, breezy morning to yesterday’s, but with less mud and fewer clouds. Also fewer birds. In fact, it was eerily quiet for much of my hike with Jack-my-dog. But as we ascended the (quiet) gully (a.k.a., Coyote Canyon), I happened to hear a Chukar—then things got interesting.
First, two other Chukars, softly calling, flew from behind us up the slope to where I’d heard the first call. Then, as we began to ascend in that direction, I heard the shook-shook-shook-shook-shook! of a Steller’s Jay. Then, even nearer, the rather spooky, raspy alarm cry of the jay. It lurked within a juniper above us, but I had no good view.
Then the jay and another (from higher up) took flight and swooped down the slope toward the neighborhood. Then I heard the cry of a flicker. Surprisingly (after such a quiet beginning), I ended up with eleven birds on my list today.
Note: Snow’s in the short-term forecast.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:31 a.m. (8:31 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Spotted Towhee 2. House Finch** 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 4. Song Sparrow 5. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 6. Chukar (v) 7. Steller’s Jay 8. Dark-eyed Junco 9. Northern Flicker** (v) 10. Rock Pigeon* 11. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
Elsewhere
12. House Sparrow (v) 13. Black-billed Magpie 14. American Robin
Mammals
Mountain Cottontail
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
I dilly-dallied a bit this morning, so dog and I didn’t make it to the trailhead until a bit later than in recent days. Nippy was the temperature, frozen was the trail, (mostly) clear was the sky. Unlike yesterday, no dramatic mammal action, but quite a few more birds.
Spied a pair of ravens in the scrub oak (near where I spied the coyote yesterday), and—most satisfyingly, perhaps—I waited long enough for a Juniper Titmouse to pose for me.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:03 a.m. (9:03 a.m. MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Spotted Towhee 2. Dark-eyed Junco 3. House Finch** 4. Downy Woodpecker (v) 5. American Robin* (v) 6. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 7. Song Sparrow** (v) 8. Rock Pigeon* 9. Black-capped Chickadee** 10. Black-billed Magpie** 11. Common Raven 12. Northern Flicker 13. Juniper Titmouse
Elsewhere
14. Lesser Goldfinch
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
