I happened to encounter the word friluftsliv this morning soon after my hike with dog. A Norwegian concept, or practice, or custom—meaning something like “open-air living.” But it means more. It means spending time each day surrounded by, contemplating, and paying attention to Nature.
It’s what I’ve done for decades. Huge part of my life. Good living, too.
Hike-wise, another quiet one. But the voices of chickadees made me feel optimistic despite the crazy fires and winds and hurricanes and politics and disease. Plus, I came across my first migrating Yellow-rumped Warbler moving through.
Worth it—the time, the effort, the energy. Worth it always.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:13 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-billed Magpie** (v)
2. House Finch*
3. Black-capped Chickadee*
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
5. Black-chinned Hummingbird
6. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Lesser Goldfinch**
9. Northern Flicker (v)
10. Yellow-rumped Warbler
11. Rock Pigeon
Elsewhere
12. Eurasian Collared Dove (v)
13. California Quail
14. House Sparrow
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, California quail, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, mountain cottontail, northern flicker, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay, yellow-rumped warbler
