For his 12th birthday today, Captain Jack, my dog, and I veered off the familiar foothills trail and up a grassy slope. And up and up to a rocky climb. And up some more. Kept going to an altitude of 6,736 feet—our highest climb so far.
Saw a high-elevation flicker on a rock. Heard my second Canyon Wren. met some fellow hikers coming down from a longer hike than ours.
Both of us are kind of achy and sore this night. (Jack’s just now napping on his birthday toy in the middle of the floor.)
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked about seventeen hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee
2. Black-billed Magpie*
3. American Robin*
4. House Finch
5. Northern Flicker**
6. Eastern Towhee
7. Lesser Goldfinch
8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
9. Dark-eyed Junco
10. Golden Eagle
11. American Kestrel
12. Canyon Wren (v)
Elsewhere
13. Song Sparrow
14. California Quail
15. Eurasian Collared Dove
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American kestrel, American robin, black-billed magpie, black-cappe chickadee, California quail, canyon wren, dark-eyed junco, eastern towhee, Eurasian collared dove, golden eagle, house finch, lesser goldfinch, northern flicker, song sparrow, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
