Robins everywhere this morning. Also a couple warbler species, a random junco, a Mountain Chickadee, and I glimpsed a furtive Green-tailed Towhee. Just one gnatcatcher, though—and not a single hummingbird. All signs of fall migration.
Birding friends from back in Maine have gathered at Monhegan Island. I’m envious. A favorite place, the best birding ever. But the challenges offered by a high desert landscape make things interesting also. Honestly, I have no idea what I’ll see or hear each day for the next couple weeks.
Tomorrow’s hike will be particularly interesting, since the first part of it will occur in summer, and the latter part will occur in autumn.
Will let you know.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:23 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Weather-wise, a morning much like the last two or three. Bird-wise, rather inauspicious. I did spot a Green-tailed Towhee (first bird of the hike), but otherwise the usual species, dipped on a couple of species, no great photos.
A highlight was the appearance in the burnt patch by a little pack four male Downy Woodpeckers. Not sure I’ve ever seen such a thing before. Cool.
(Meanwhile, though, I’m alarmed by a report of hundreds of thousands of dead birds found in New Mexico and other places in western states. Perhaps the record wildfires forcing too-early migration, perhaps some mysterious other factor. Whatever the cause, it felt like a kick in the gut.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:16 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Green-tailed Towhee 2. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3. Black-capped Chickadee 4. Mourning Dove 5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 6. Black-chinned Hummingbird 7. Spotted Towhee 8. House Finch* 9. Downy Woodpecker 10. American Robin 11. Broad-tailed Hummingbird 12. Pine Siskin (v) 13. Black-billed Magpie** (v) 14. Lesser Goldfinch* 15. Sparrow (sp.)
Elsewhere
16. California Quail 17. Rock Pigeon 18. Barn Swallow
Mammals
Rock Squirrel Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
This morning started out about like the two or three mornings before it: Not too warm or cool, breezy, shady. But very soon my hike with dog began to reap fruit. Scrub jay, gnatcatcher, and—wait—a Western Kingbird? This early bird, perched above the little rockfall quarry we pass every day, was my first-in-Utah sighting.
Soon after, we encountered a Green-tailed Towhee, the first Rock Wren since spring, and a family of five Chipping Sparrows. By the end of our mountain stroll, I’d listed sixteen species—more than in the last many days. Could these be early signs of fall migration?
American Kestrel.
Don’t know about that, but the last species on my list today was American Kestrel, after I spied a pair circling nonchalantly up in the afternoon blue, despite being hollered at by magpies.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:05 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 2. Black-billed Magpie* 3. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4. Mourning Dove* 5. Western Kingbird†† 6. Black-chinned Hummingbird 7. Green-tailed Towhee 8. Spotted Towhee 9. Rock Wren 10. Chipping Sparrow 11. Black-capped Chickadee 12. American Robin 13. House Finch** 14. Broad-tailed Hummingbird* 15. Virginia Warbler 16. Lazuli Bunting
Elsewhere
17. Lesser Goldfinch 18. Eurasian Collared Dove (v) 19. California Quail 20. American Kestrel
Mammals
Red Squirrel Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere ††First-of-Utah
