A frosty morning. By the time dog and I hit the trail, the temperature had risen to about 40° (F), but in the shade down around our feet it was cooler. But considering the quick lengthening of the photoperiod, the birds don’t seem to mind at all.

Most noteworthy today: a first-of-year Red-breasted Nuthatch (voice only), and a pair of kinglets up in the juniper barren. Plenty of deer, too—I counted 20 up above us on the slopes a couple-three hundred feet or so.

But most importantly, this was Captain Jack’s 14th birthday. Still a trooper, hiking up and down two miles a day with me, in the thin high desert air.

Grandeur Peak Area List
At 8:15 a.m., sun time, I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. American Robin*
2. Eurasian Collared-dove**
3. Spotted Towhee*
4. Song Sparrow* (v)
5. Pine Siskin (v)
6. Northern Flicker**
7. Rock Pigeon*
8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
9. House Finch*
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Red-breasted Nuthatch† (v)
12. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
13. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
14. Cooper’s Hawk

Elsewhere

15. House Sparrow (v)
16. European Starling

Mammals

Mule Deer
Rock Squirrel

(v) Voice only
*Also Elsewhere
**Voice only Elsewhere
†First-of-year