A pleasant, quick, relatively low-key hike with dog this nippy morning. Quite a few bird species, although not that many individuals. Heard its tapping, then spied my Downy Woodpecker friend (the male), heard the raspy call of a Mountain Chickadee. One moment stood out, though.
We were standing on the bluff overlooking the neighborhood, where sometimes I spot a cool bird or two. Heard a finch, spied a scrub-jay carrying a peanut, heard a Townsend’s Solitaire. Wait—that latter was rather unusual for the residential streets below, but it sure sounded like the sweet, clear, repeated territorial note of the species.
Knowing a solitaire’s tendency to perch in high places, I grabbed my binocs and scanned the treetops in the residential yards far below. There, a slim gray bird. Looked like it might be… Took up my camera and fired off a few shots just as it flew, revealing those telltale white underwing stripes.
A solitaire after all.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:21 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee
2. Black-billed Magpie*
3. House Finch* (v)
4. Spotted Towhee
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
6. Townsend’s Solitaire
7. Northern Flicker (v)
8. Downy Woodpecker
9. Dark-eyed Junco
10. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
11. Mountain Chickadee (v)
Elsewhere
12. Eurasian Collared-dove
13. European Starling
14. Rock Pigeon
15. California Gull
Mammals
Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, California gull, dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker, Eurasian collared dove, Europan starling, house finch, lesserr goldfinch, mountain chickadee, northern flicker, rock pigeon, spotted towhee, Townsend’s solitaire, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
