On this fair, chilly (40s (F) to start), breezy morning, I encountered a whole bunch of birds up the mountainside. Most notable was a Bullock’s Oriole.
As dog and I hiked slowly through a shady stretch that opening onto a long, leafy view, I heard a chattering in the trees—the same sound I’d heard two or three days ago there (without being able to ID the source of it). We stopped, I listened, and within a half-minute or so a colorful bird flew out and perched atop a bigtooth maple nearby.
Right away—as I’m conditioned to do—I put camera (in this case, my old, creaky camera, as I wait for a new one to arrive) to my eye and began snapping away at what I assumed was a male Western Tanager.
How embarrassing.
Only when I downloaded photos this evening did I realize my mistake. I wondered if perhaps it’d help to say it turned out to be a bird I’d never seen before—but no. Still embarrassing.
Still, a lifer is a lifer, I guess.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked about 1,000 feet up a mountain.
1. Black-headed Grosbeak (v)
2. California Quail*
3. Lazuli Bunting
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
6. Song Sparrow** (v)
7. Black-chinned Hummingbird*
8. Rock Pigeon*
9. American Robin* (v)
10. House Finch**
11. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
12. Spotted Towhee
13. Orange-crowned Warbler (v)
14. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
15. Bullock’s Oriole†‡
16. Black-billed Magpie* (v)
17. Warbling Vireo (v)
18. Chipping Sparrow (v)
19. Black-throated Gray Warbler
20. Cooper’s Hawk
Elsewhere
21. Eurasian Collared Dove
22. Turkey Vulture
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
‡Lifer
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, black-chinned hummingbird, black-headed grosbeak, black-throated gray warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, Bullock’s oriole, California quail, chipping sparrow, cooper's hawk, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, lazuli bunting, lesser goldfinch, Orange-crowned Warbler, rock pigeon, song sparrow, spotted towhee, turkey vulture, warbling vireo, Woodhouse’s scrub-jay
