On my morning hike with dog this day I heard, at a distance, a warbler’s song I’d never heard before. I felt sure it was a warbler from my years of listening to birds of all kinds: Warblers make sounds from a certain set that other birds don’t seem to have access to. This one sang a series of individual buzzy notes varying in number by one or two. I wondered what its name was.
As we headed down a deer trail in the general direction of the song, it began to fade as the bird moved quickly away and up Coyote Canyon. I figured I’d missed my chance. But up the canyon a ways, I heard again this distinctive song, much nearer, and began to track its source. Took a while, but I finally found it: a Black-throated Gray Warbler.
I’ve heard the voices of many black-throated grays, and all but one sang quite similar buzzy songs—much unlike this bird. (The outlier sang a different, buzzy jumble of notes whose order I can’t remember.) In fact, while chasing the singer of today’s mystery song, I even wondered aloud at one point: “Could it be a black-throated gray?”
But despite the fact that I’d seen the bird—that it wasn’t some strange new species—it was a thrill to add a new bit of information to my meager knowledge of the wondrous Great Outdoors.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:28 a.m. (8:28 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Lazuli Bunting 2. Black-headed Grosbeak (v) 3. Black-capped Chickadee 4. Song Sparrow* (v) 5. Black-chinned Hummingbird 6. Warbling Vireo 7. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8. American Robin* 9. Spotted Towhee 10. Western Tanager 11. House Finch** 12. Rock Pigeon 13. Mourning Dove 14. Pine Siskin 15. Chipping Sparrow 16. Cooper’s Hawk 17. Black-throated Gray Warbler 18. Orange-crowned Warbler (v) 19. Black-billed Magpie* 20. California Quail* (v) 21. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
Elsewhere
22. European Starling 23. Eurasian Collared-dove
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon. We hiked in morning under a cloudless sky, dog and I, and the sun warmed us up nicely. Few other humans or dogs, but quite a few good birds—e.g., a female Western Tanager.
But most noteworthy might’ve been three raptors: one of the resident Cooper’s Hawks, a pair of Golden Eagles perched high on the ridge (first eagles in a while), and, on our return, a lone soaring Red-Tailed Hawk.
(Lots of little hummingbirds, too.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:28 a.m. (8:28 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Cool, fair, little breeze, little birds all over the place. Had fun seeking out a few of the usual hard-to-catch suspects. But today’s first-of-year species was an American Kestrel. Just happened to spot it circling high above us.
Probably had a few better photos, but for some reason this one somehow typifies the fun dog and I had up the mountain this morning.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:52 a.m. (8:52 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
