On kind of a lark, I tried live-streaming today’s hike with dog. “Birding with Jack,” I called it. Did a test yesterday. Test went well—but today’s stream didn’t appear live, for some reason. (Plus, I kept losing my signal.)
Even so, it turned out to be a very good hike. Bunch of bird species (including a lifer)—and I got a couple decent photos of my recent nemesis, the Warbling Vireo. This one was bashing in the head of a caterpillar.
Also watched a Black-chinned Hummingbird doing a seriously pendulous flight display. That was cool.
More coolness tomorrow.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked 1,200-plus feet up a mountain.
This morning’s hike with dog, under overcast skies, had a particularly thrilling moment for me: when I discovered the gnatcatcher’s nest unabandoned.
Black-headed Grosbeak.
I’d found the tiny nest a week or so ago, and for a few days saw (and heard) the birds that built it so carefully—albeit right above a fairly busy tail—tending to and guarding it. Then, a few days ago, nothing. I’d assumed they’d decided having humans pass regularly beneath the nest was unacceptable, and had moved on.
Not so. Because there—still and alert, tail raised high—sat what I assume was the female, warming her eggs.
And henceforth—in some illogical attempt to counterbalance the effects of hard-breathing runners, loud talkers, and over-active dogs—Jack and I will tread even more lightly when passing that particular stretch of trail.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. Black-billed Magpie* 3. Broad-tailed Hummingbird 4. Lazuli Bunting 5. California Quail* 6. Spotted Towhee 7. Black-headed Grosbeak 8. Pine Siskin (v) 9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10. Black-capped Chickadee 11. Mourning Dove 12. Black-chinned Hummingbird 13. Orange-crowned Warbler (v) 14. Chipping Sparrow 15. House Finch* 16. Black-throated Gray Warbler (v) 17. Warbling Vireo (v) 18. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 19. Western Tanager 20. Song Sparrow**
Elsewhere
21. Eurasian Collared Dove 22. European Starling 23. Rock Pigeon 24. House Sparrow 25. Lesser Goldfinch
Mammals
Mule Deer Small rodent (sp)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Here in the sage and scrub-oak foothills east of Salt Lake City, the usual suspects are kind of remarkable. This morning, I saw more than a dozen Lazuli Buntings, for instance—all but one of them singing males. They’ve got bright songs and are kind of jazzy to look at.
Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Another common species (for example) is the Black-chinned Hummingbird. Back in Maine, we had only one resident hummer—the ruby-throat—and they weren’t at all rare, but I saw perhaps one every week or ten days in high season. Lately, I’ve seen multiple black-chinneds every single day for a good while now. (Also daily Broad-tailed Hummingbirds.) And I haven’t even mentioned the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Spotted Towhees, or Black-headed Grosbeaks.
I’m getting accustomed to seeing—or at least hearing—them. But I can’t imagine I’ll ever tire of their sights and sounds.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
