A mostly overcast Saturday morning, with a little breeze—but temperatures right about 50° (F). Jack-my-dog and I were along for most of the start of our hike, but by the end of it, we’d stopped to chat with fellow hikers six or seven times. As the birding wasn’t overly excellent, such social distractions were a nice diversion.
Even so, I heard what sounded an awful like the chip of a Yellow-rumped Warbler—and even got a distant look at the bird in flight—but I couldn’t be sure enough to call the ID. And two accipiters made an appearance. And at the end of the hike, I heard the cricket-like flight call of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird.
Cloudy for the next two or three days, with chances of a Monday rain. but the end of the week to come looks like it might be warm and bright, with a chance of more hummingbirds.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:39 a.m. (8:39 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. House Finch** 3. Black-capped Chickadee 4. Spotted Towhee 5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 6. Rock Pigeon* 7. Black-billed Magpie 8. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 9. California Quail* 10. Wood Warbler (sp.) 11. Cooper’s Hawk 12. Sharp-shinned Hawk 13. Song Sparrow 14. Broad-tailed Hummingbird† (v)
Elsewhere
15. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year bird
Early in our hike this morning, dog and I encountered two first-of-year bird species, migrants that had likely arrived overnight. In a bit of irony, both sparrows, and they appeared on different twigs of the same tree: a White-crowned Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow. I wonder if they flew together.
It was a calm morning, with a hazy half-overcast. Warm enough, and dry. Mammals were about also—cottontails, squirrels, deer. Titmice, a high-flying sharpie, and up in the junipers, another chippy.
Supposed to be cloudy the next few days, with calm overnights. Could well mean more new arrivals.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:49 a.m. (8:49 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 3. Black-billed Magpie 4. House Finch** 5. Mourning Dove (v) 6. Spotted Towhee 7. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** 8. Juniper Titmouse (v) 9. White-crowned Sparrow‡ 10. Chipping Sparrow‡ 11. Rock Pigeon* 12. Black-capped Chickadee 13. Sharp-shinned Hawk 14. Northern Flicker (v) 15. Pine Siskin (v) 16. Lesser Goldfinch (v) ** 17. California Quail
Elsewhere
18. European Starling
Mammals
Red Squirrel Mountain Cottontail Mule Deer Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere ‡First-of-year bird
A warmer morning. No clouds at first, but then one or two tiny fluffy ones appeared over the Oquirrhs. Soon as dog and I ascended to the old Monarch Quarry, I spied a lone bird perched on a little snag up toward the bluff. It looked a little unusual—not a scrub-jay, grayer, but with a long bill, possibly a mimic. Hadn’t I seen a catbird here last year sometime? The year before?
I listed it in my head as “mimic,” and not until I got home to look at photos did I recognize it (immediately) as a Townsend’s Solitaire.
I think maybe I’ve just got incoming migrants on the brain.
(I did see what I believe was one incoming migrant—a small, yellowish passerine that I could not ID. Perhaps, when taken with the early vultures and yesterday’s thrush, the third spring migration species so far?)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:35 a.m. (8:35 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
