A warmer morning. No clouds at first, but then one or two tiny fluffy ones appeared over the Oquirrhs. Soon as dog and I ascended to the old Monarch Quarry, I spied a lone bird perched on a little snag up toward the bluff. It looked a little unusual—not a scrub-jay, grayer, but with a long bill, possibly a mimic. Hadn’t I seen a catbird here last year sometime? The year before?
I listed it in my head as “mimic,” and not until I got home to look at photos did I recognize it (immediately) as a Townsend’s Solitaire.
I think maybe I’ve just got incoming migrants on the brain.
(I did see what I believe was one incoming migrant—a small, yellowish passerine that I could not ID. Perhaps, when taken with the early vultures and yesterday’s thrush, the third spring migration species so far?)
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:35 a.m. (8:35 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch**
2. Northern Flicker
3. Spotted Towhee
4. Townsend’s Solitaire
5. Rock Pigeon*
6. Song Sparrow** (v)
7. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
8. Juniper Titmouse (v)
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. American Robin*
11. Dark-eyed Junco
12. Black-billed Magpie
13. Chukar (v)
14. Red-breasted Nuthatch(v)
Elsewhere
15. House Sparrow (v)
16. Mourning Dove (v)
17. California Quail
18. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
19. Cooper’s Hawk.
Mammals
Mountain Cottontail
Mule Deer
Rock Squirrel
Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, California quail, chukar, cooper's hawk, dark-eyed junco, house finch, house sparrow, juniper titmouse, lesser goldfinch, mountain cottontail, mourning dove, mule deer, northern flicker, red squirrel, red-breasted nuthatch, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, song sparrow, spotted towhee, Townsend’s solitaire, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
