These warm, dry, late-summer mornings don’t give up a lot of bird talk. Oh, the chickadees always keep a chatter going, and the high cries of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers rises from the scrub oaks, and you can’t shut up a Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay—but the majority of species here are about as quiet as at any time of year.
And when they do pipe up, its often a single note, or subtle chatter, or other vocalization that’s mysterious to me. Near the beginning of my hike with dog, I heard a faint chattering and saw a bird head away in the distance, but I couldn’t ID it—maybe a tanager, I thought, or oriole. Then, on our regular walk down Coyote Canyon in search of Broad-tailed Hummingbird photo ops, I heard a strange note but never saw the bird.
At least toward the end of the hike I did spy a Western Tanager (a female, identified through binoculars), but who’s to say it was in fact that earlier chattering bird? Not I.
Some might feel frustrated on challenging days like this, with so few obvious signs of wild birds. Not I. It’s a challenge I love and accept.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:57 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch*
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
3. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Spotted Towhee
6. Lazuli Bunting
7. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
8. Mourning Dove
9. American Robin
10. Western Tanager
Elsewhere
11. Lesser Goldfinch
12. California Quail
13. Black-billed Magpie
14. Rock Pigeon
Mammals
Rock Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, blue-gray gnatcatcher, broad-tailed hummingbird, California quail, house finch, lazuli bunting, lesser goldfinch, mourning dove, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, spotted towhee, western tanager, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
