Any day when I get to stalk a Townsend’s Solitaire I count as a good day. It happened this morning (for about the fifth or sixth time) in little wooded Coyote Canyon (where it’s nearly always happened), which dog and I ascended for the first time since the last big snow. Followed the deer tracks up there heard the bird’s faint but lovely song winter song—almost as if its practicing for spring—and it didn’t take a lot of looking to spot it.
Pretty sure it’s the same bird I’ve stalked at least a couple-three times before.
Elsewhere deer—including a deer hiding in scrub oak very near the trail, which, when I observed it, had a magpie walking along its back. Guessing it was after mites or ticks or something.
Also saw a Cooper’s Hawk. All in all, a real successful one.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 9:02 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch* (v)
2. Black-billed Magpie**
3. Song Sparrow* (v)
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v)
5. Black-capped Chickadee
6. Spotted Towhee* (v)
7. Cooper’s Hawk
8. Rock Pigeon*
9. Northern Flicker
10. Townsend’s Solitaire
11. Downy Woodpecker
12. American Robin* (v)
Elsewhere
13. House Sparrow (v)
14. Eurasian Collared-dove (v)
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, cooper's hawk, downy woodpecker, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, house sparrow, northern flicker, rock pigeon, song sparrow, spotted towhee, Townsend’s solitaire, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
