A little snow had fallen overnight when Jack and I headed up the switchback. The temperature had risen a bit above freezing by then, and the trails were good and muddy. Lots of juncos, a few towhees, the other usual species—and a couple accipiters.
The first was a Cooper’s Hawk that I watched alight in the big Russian maple in the Monarch Quarry grove. The jays got quiet as it looked around for a minute before heading in a northerly direction. The second was as we were returning up the backside of the bluff to the quarry—a Sharp-shinned Hawk, also flying northward, not stopping in the olive grove.
The rest of the day was mostly damp and showery, while big snows were falling off over the mountains in Colorado.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:44 a.m. (MST), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
2. Dark-eyed Junco
3. Spotted Towhee**
4. American Robin* (v)
5. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
6. House Finch** (v)
7. Black-capped Chickadee
8. Cooper’s Hawk
9. Song Sparrow* (v)
10. Northern Flicker* (v)
11. Sharp-shinned Hawk
12. Rock Pigeon*
Elsewhere
13. Eurasian Collared-dove
14. House Sparrow (v)
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-capped chickadee, cooper's hawk, dark-eyed junco, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, northern flicker, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
