It felt like a walk in fall, my hike with dog this morning. Warm enough—60-ish (F)—for a t-shirt, cloudless sky, not too many birds to distract us. Oh, a dozen species wasn’t so bad, and still many yellow-rumps moving through, but otherwise, pretty uneventful. And few photo ops.
Still, I loved this day. (As I will tomorrow.)
Grandeur Peak Area List At 7:18 a.m. (8:18 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Northern Flicker 2. House Finch** 3. Yellow-rumped Warbler 4. Rock Pigeon* 5. American Robin 6. Pine Siskin 7. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 8. Lesser Goldfinch 9. Black-capped Chickadee 10. Spotted Towhee 11. Black-billed Magpie** (v) 12. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (v)
Mammals
Red Squirrel Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Slept late this morning for a change. Nice to get eight hours, with a nice hike to look forward to. And it was a nice, cloudless morning.
Forty-two yellow-rumps moving through—the most I’ve counted in a day in Utah. Harder to photograph here (with the open spaces) than in Maine (with nice thick woods), but a couple actually posed.
Already wondering how many ’rumps will make my list tomorrow.
Grandeur Peak Area List At 7:39 a.m. (8:39 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch* 2. Black-billed Magpie* (v) 3. Spotted Towhee 4. Rock Pigeon* 5. American Robin 6. Yellow-rumped Warbler 7. Northern Flicker** 8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 9. Black-capped Chickadee 10. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (v) 11. Lesser Goldfinch (v) 12. Song Sparrow (v)
Elsewhere
13. California Quail 14. House Sparrow (v)
Mammals
Red Squirrel Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
A somewhat earlier hike this morning for dog and me, meaning most of it occurred in the mountain shade. No problem, though, since migration continues, and the migrants don’t seem to mind a little shade. Robins and yellow-rumps—even a gnatcatcher.
The air contained nippiness and a sense of urgency. Flickers cried, ’rumps chipped, chickadees chattered. A particularly genial chickadee, in fact, presented me with by far the best photo of the day, on our return.
It posed in a Russian Olive tree, in the warmth of the morning sun.
Grandeur Peak Area List At 7:11 a.m. (8:11 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-billed Magpie** 2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 3. House Finch** 4. Song Sparrow* (v) 5. Spotted Towhee (v) 6. Yellow-rumped Warbler 7. Rock Pigeon* 8. Black-capped Chickadee 9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (v) 10. Pine Siskin (v) 11. Northern Flicker** 12. Lesser Goldfinch 13. American Robin 14. Mourning Dove 15. California Quail* (v)
Mammals
Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
