
This morning’s hike started out about like yesterday’s—quiet, the usual suspects, etc.—but on a lark I decided we’d do the loop up along the ridge overlooking Millcreek Canyon. It’d been a while.
Captain Jack was game, and the weather was cool (actually tied my sweatshirt around my waist once we got into the sunlight, as a T-shirt was plenty). Turned out to be a fruitful hike. For instance, up on the ridge, I’d stopped to watch a distant bird, when a Townsend’s Solitaire flitted up and perched on the tip of a juniper just below us.
(That’s often how it happens—and especially with solitaires.)
Then, descending down shady Coyote Canyon, I heard what sounded like a Golden-Crowned Kinglet among some conifers. Hadn’t educated myself on whether that species frequents this area, but this sounded exactly like the golden-crowned voices I knew from Maine. Ended up hearing it five or six times and was convinced that’s what it was—pending a little research.
Sure enough, they’re year-round residents of this area—yet this was the first I’d heard here. Maybe they stick to the upper coniferous regions or something.
(Spied a couple Ruby-crowned Kinglets also. A kinglet kind of day.)
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:15 a.m. (MST), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Dark-eyed Junco
2. House Finch**
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
4. Juniper Titmouse (v)
5. Spotted Towhee
6. Northern Flicker** (v)
7. Mountain Chickadee (v)
8. Pine Siskin (v)
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. Black-billed Magpie*
11. Downy Woodpecker
12. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
13. Townsend’s Solitaire
14. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
15. Golden-crowned Kinglet (v)
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Mammals
Red Squirrel (v)
Tags: black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker, golden-crowned kinglet, house finch, juniper titmouse, lesser goldfinch, mountain chickadee, northern flicker, pine siskin, red squirrel, ruby-crowned kinglet, spotted towhee, Townsend’s solitaire, Woodhouse’s scrub jay