Got up the hill early this morning, figuring midday would be a mite warm. But I’d taken about a half-dozen photos, my camera stopped working—the zoom went haywire, and the shutter wouldn’t release. So I dashed back home for my ancient Canon superzoom (two models ago) and returned to the trailhead.
Turns out the trusty, rusty camera still has chops. Sure the lens is scratched, and the zoom makes a screeching sound, and the fastest it’ll take photos is about one per second—but hey.
It was a windy one. Possibly the windiest Utah day I’ve experienced. Also dry enough to warrant a Red Flag alert. But dog and I managed to do the Millcreek ridge circuit and return none the worst for wear.
P.S. I packed up my busted camera and shipped it to be fixed.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:45 a.m., I hiked some 1,500 feet up a mountain.
1. Lazuli Bunting 2. California Quail* (v) 3. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4. Black-billed Magpie* (v) 5. Black-headed Grosbeak 6. Black-chinned Hummingbird 7. Rock Pigeon* 8. Pine Siskin (v) 9. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 10. Spotted Towhee 11. Turkey Vulture 12. Mourning Dove 13. Red-tailed Hawk 14. House Finch** 15. Common Raven 16. Virginia’s Warbler (v) 17. Warbling Vireo (v) 18. Chipping Sparrow (v) 19. Orange-crowned Warbler (v) 20. American Robin*
Elsewhere
21. Eurasian Collared Dove 22. House Sparrow 23. Lesser Goldfinch 24. Song Sparrow (v)
Mammals
None
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
A lot happening this morning kept me and Jack from hiking until late morning today. It was bright and warm, but I brought water, and we had a pretty nice time of it—despite the fact that I didn’t manage any decent bird photos.
A good part of the time I spent in the shaded valley trail, where the Warbling Vireos live, trying to get a pic of one of three vireos I saw. Trouble is, they were bothered by the presence of a nearby scrub-jay, so they were all noise and flitty motion, and I couldn’t get a fix. At one point they were joined by a gnatcatcher—I’ve seen little gnatcatchers harassing jays a lot lately—but it didn’t stop and pose, either.
Still, as I say, it was a good ’un. You can kinda tell that summer’s only a week or so away.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 11:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Birding is a little slower now than it was a couple weeks ago. Oh, there’re plenty of wild birds about—singing, calling, flitting around—but they’re less obvious, more secretive. They’ve got other thoughts on their mind.
In fact, I’m guessing that most of the resident species either have eggs to incubate, nestings to feed, or fledglings to bring to adulthood. But this morning I happened upon at least one couple of buntings with a nest in need of eggs—right in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, the grosbeak parents are still jamming regurgitated food rather roughly down the throats of their tiny new-hatched nestlings. (Guessing their wide beaks make it something of a challenge.) Gnatcatchers, scrub-jays, and magpies (at least) have fledglings to raise.
Busy times for all.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:45 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
