Dog and I reached the trailhead a bit earlier than on the past few mornings. Mostly cloudy, 40s (F), very slight breeze. The sky was a lovely one, and the air tasted brisk and cool A quiet one, bird-wise, though.
However, upon topping the switchback, while circumnavigating the old Monarch Quarry to reach the bluff (as we do every day), I saw something. A shape in a scrub oak. Might’ve been a limb, but it stood erect enough to make me think it might be a bird. It was a bird. A Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Backlit by the morning sun, I snuck close enough for photos before it dipped away over the bluff and disappeared.
Grandeur Peak Area List
At 8:40 MST, I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch** (v)
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v)
4. Rock Pigeon*
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk
6. Black-billed Magpie (v)
7. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
8. Red-tailed Hawk
Elsewhere
9. Spotted Towhee (v)
10. Song Sparrow (v)
Mammals
Red Squirrel (v)
Mountain Coyote (v)
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, house finch, mountain coyote, red squirrel, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
