A lovely hike with dog this clear, birdy morning. Before we’d barely left the switchback, in fact, I had more than a dozen species on my list—including a strange, unexpected bird perched in the big Russian olive tree.
A huge-beaked bird it was, but no Black-headed Grosbeak. Every several seconds it emitted a single bright note, a call I didn’t recognize. Had to be another grosbeak, but which could it be? Not until we got back home and I searched the Cornell Lab site for Utah grosbeaks did I realize what I’d seen: an Evening Grosbeak, a female or immature male.
. Every several seconds it emitted a single bright note, a call I didn’t recognize. Had to be another grosbeak, but which could it be? Not until we got back home and I searched the Cornell Lab site for Utah grosbeaks did I realize what I’d seen: an Evening Grosbeak, a female or immature male.
Decades ago, back in Maine, great flocks of Evening Grosbeaks descended during winter irruptions, and I got to know them very well. And then one year they didn’t return, and I hadn’t seen one since. Not in a span of at least 30 years—and never, I think, a solo individual.
Good to see you, great-beaked bird. I hope you find more of your kind.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:05 a.m. (8:05 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Song Sparrow** (v)
2. Lazuli Bunting
3. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
5. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
6. Spotted Towhee
7. Black-chinned Hummingbird
8. American Robin* (v)
9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
10. Evening Grosbeak†
11. Chipping Sparrow
12. Rock Wren
13. Rock Pigeon (2)
14. Black-capped Chickadee
15. Warbling Vireo (v)
16. Black-billed Magpie* (v)
17. Black-throated Gray Warbler (v)
18. Orange-crowned Warbler (v)
19. Hermit Thrush
20. House Finch
21. Black-headed Grosbeak
22. Turkey Vulture
Elsewhere
23. House Sparrow
24. Eurasian Collared-dove (v)
Mammals
Red Squirrel
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, black-chinned hummingbird, black-headed grosbeak, black-throated gray warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, chipping sparrow, Eurasian collared dove, evening grosbeak, hermit thrush, house finch, house sparrow, lazuli bunting, lesser goldfnch, Orange-crowned Warbler, red squirrel, red-breasted nuthatch, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, rock wren, song sparrow, spotted towhee, turkey vulture, warbling vireo, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
