A calm, nearly cloudless morning with chillier temps (20s (F)) than yesterday—and a bunch of nice surprises to discover. The first being a Canyon Wren in the rocky cavity up near the bluff. I heard it first, remembered the call from early spring, and managed even to spy the little energetic bird.
Soon after that sighting, I decided we should climb up to the ridge where the cairn stands—where I’d seen (from a distance) that it’d partly fallen in on account of (I assume) a few very windy days. It’d been a couple-three months, at least. Past time.
And it was a grand climb, a lovely view. I repaired the cairn (more or less), and dog and I ascended a couple hundred feet above it, sat a spell, then came back down (during which descent I heard—then spotted—a couple Chukars) and finally hiked a stretch of our usual trail, for good measure.
Good measure turned out to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk, perched low in the scrub not far away, casting about for voles or juncos until a trail runner jogged by.
All in all a very fine day.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:20 a.m. (MST), I hiked some 1,200 feet up a mountain.
1. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
2. Pine Siskin (v)
3. House Finch* (v)
4. Spotted Towhee
5. American Robin** (v)
6. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
7. Canyon Wren
8. Black-capped Chickadee
9. Chukar
10. Dark-eyed Junco
11. Sharp-shinned Hawk
12. Northern Flicker (v)
13. Black-billed Magpie* (v)
Elsewhere
14. American Kestrel
Mammals
Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American kestrel, American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, canyon wren, chukar, dark-eyed junco, house finch, nothern flicker, pine siskin, red squirrel, red-breasted nuthatch, sharp-shinned hawk, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
