
You’ll have noted by now that I started keeping track of mammals recently. (And to a lesser degree, reptiles—which seem far less common.) Today there were two species: Mountain Cottontail and Rock Squirrel.
Both were in the area of the old lime quarry. The cottontail—a youngster—paused and posed a while. (A Rock Squirrel seen about the same time scramble into a little cave across the way.)
The elk and mule deer are dramatic in cold weather seasons, but I have a soft spot for the spring and summer cottontails.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:59 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Rock Pigeon*
2. House Finch*
3. Mourning Dove*
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
5. Chipping Sparrow
6. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Black-capped Chickadee**
9. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
10. Northern flicker
11. Black-chinned Hummingbird**
12. Pine Siskin
13. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
14. Lazuli Buning (v)
15. Black-billed Magpie (v)
Elsewhere
16. Eurasian Collared Dove
17. Turkey Vulture
Mammals
Mountain Cottontail
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, black-chinned hummingbird, blue-gray gnatcatcher, broad-tailed hummingbird, chipping sparrow, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, lazuli bunting, lesser goldfinch, mountain cottontail, mourning dove, northern flicker, pine iskin, potted towhee, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, turkey vulture, Woodhouse’s scrub jay