A sunny morning, a chilly morn, a breezy morn, a quiet morn. Quite a few bird species, although nothing too outlandish—Mountain Chickadee was cool, and a whole bunch of Black-capped Chickadees. I got to think it’d be an uneventful hike with dog.
Then, as we were making our final descent from the bluff, I heard what sounded like the cawing of crows. I hear crows so rarely here, I thought I might be wrong—but I wasn’t. There, in the western sky, were many crows, veering and soaring and hollering at each other. They spun and circled and headed northward. I took photos of the crows, and counted them—eighteen in all.
I encountered crows nearly every day during our Maine hikes. Today I saw multiple times more crows than I had in all my previous days in Utah.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:29 a.m. (MST), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay*
2. Dark-eyed Junco
3. American Robin* (v)
4. House Finch**
5. Black-capped Chickadee*
6. Mountain Chickadee
7. Rock Pigeon*
8. Spotted Towhee
9. Song Sparrow* (v)
10. Juniper Titmouse
11. American Crow
12. Northern Flicker
13. European Starling
14. Red-tailed Hawk
Elsewhere
15. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
16. Black-billed Magpie
Mammals
Mule Deer
Rock Squirrel
Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadeee, dark-eyed junco, European starling, house finch, juniper titmouse, lesser goldfinch, mountain chickadee, mule deer, northern flicker, red squirrel, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, song sparrow, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
