When dog and I hit the trail today, the temperature hovered right around freezing. No crazy warmth, not blustery wind—not even as much mud as yesterday. More birds, though.
Several species were singing—most notable among them being towhees. I heard and/or saw ten Spotted Towhees thir morning, and seven of them were singing males. A towhee’s is a bright, hopeful song, and it’ll carry or quite a distance. Mingling with this chorus were the songs of finches, robins, juncos, the calls of a chukar, the territorial notes of a solitaire, the beeps of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
Also the chattering calls of a Juniper Titmouse.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:32 a.m. (MST), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin** (v)
2. Dark-eyed Junco
3. Spotted Towhee*
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
5. House Finch* (v)
6. Black-capped Chickadee**
7. Juniper Titmouse
8. Townsend’s Solitaire
9. Rock Pigeon*
10. Black-billed Magpie**
11. Northern Flicker
12. Chukar (v)
13. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
Elsewhere
14. House Sparrow (v)
15. Eurasian Collared-dove
16. European Starling
Mammals
Red Squirrel
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, chukar, dark-eyed junco, Eurasian collared dove, European starling, house finch, house sparrow, juniper titmouse, mule deer, northern flicker, red squirrel, red-breasted nuthatch, rock pigeon, spotted towhee, Townsend’s solitaire, Woodhouse’s scrib-jay
