A cool summer morning, with maybe one or two little clouds in the blue, blue sky. Kind of a bad air day, but that didn’t stop dog and I from making our usual rounds.
So many juvies! Towhees, buntings, hummingbirds, finches, hawk gnatcatchers—pretty much every resident species (those that decided to stick around despite the historic drought) has fledged a successful brood The only towhee I saw today was a young ’un, in fact. And the chatter of an immature oriole lured over to catch a glimpse. Clear hot days for the foreseeable future. Sunday night’s storm has left a happy landscape (but it’ll not make a dent in the drought).
Today marks the second anniversary of my living in Salt Lake City.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:04 a.m. (8:04 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Cool in the shade this morning, and hot in the sun. Not as hot as it was this afternoon (mid- to upper-90s (F)), but we got to the trailhead early, dog and I, and had a quick hike. Slowed down on the shady stretches and sped up in the sunny ones.
Saw and/or heard quite a few birds. Got a photo of a gnatcatcher singing animatedly (as they all do). Out on a sunny twig, too, that little bird.
Might reach 100° tomorrow.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:02 a.m. (8:02 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Lazuli Bunting 2. American Robin 3. Black-capped Chickadee 4. Rock Pigeon 5. Black-chinned Hummingbird 6. Pine Siskin 7. Spotted Towhee 8. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9. Violet-green Swallow 10. Black-headed Grosbeak 11. House Finch** 12. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 13. Empidonax (sp.) 14. Chipping Sparrow (v) 15. Black-throated Gray Warbler (v) 16. Warbling Vireo 17. Black-billed Magpie 18. Song Sparrow* (v)
Elsewhere
19. Eurasian Collared-dove 20. California Quail 21. European Starling 22. Rock Picon
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Last night’s front brought a tiny bit of rain and cooled things off considerably. However, the sun being bright this morning, dog and I embarked on a ridge hike.
Along the way—in the lower elevations, where the scrub oak grows—we passed many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I love this little birds. They flit, they flash their tails, the travel in betrothed pairs (or seem to), the have wee, antic, plaintive voices. Last year I knew of a nest along the trail. Hoping for another this year.
Otherwise, although no first-of-years, a bunch of species on this morning’s list. Still expecting something of an influx when the warmth takes hold again.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:31 a.m. (8:31 MDT), I hiked about 1,200 feet up a mountain.
