6 April 2026

Posts Tagged ‘black-billed magpie’

Creeper and Solitaires

Friday, November 1st, 2019
Townsend’s Solitaire, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 01 November 2019.
Townsend’s Solitaire (with juniper berry).
Golden Eagle, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 01 November 2019.
Golden Eagle.

It seems highly paradoxical: another hike without my dog, another fruitful excursion. This day saw more than one eagle flyover (also saw one from my desk back in the neighborhood), more than one Townsend’s Solitaire, and—the first bird up the mountainside—the call of a Brown Creeper, a first-in-Utah bird for me.

Multiple eagles and multiple solitaires was the coolest thing. Also the fine, clear, nippy first of November weather.

Still felt guilty, though.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 11:30 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.

1. Brown Creeper (v)
2. Black-billed Magpie*
3. Black-capped Chickadee*
4. House Finch*
5. Dark-eyed Junco**
6. Golden Eagle*
7. Northern Flicker*
8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay*
9. Townsend’s Solitaire
10. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)

Elsewhere

11. European Starling
12. Eurasian Collared Dove
13. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
14. House Sparrow (v)

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere

**Voice only elsewhere

Midday Birds

Thursday, October 31st, 2019
Common Raven, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 31 October 2019.
Common Raven.

No Jack on my midday Halloween hike, which seemed wrong and strange. I made it a quick one. At first there seemed few birds up the mountainside—but a bunch showed up on my return trip, including Golden Eagle, Canyon Wren, and a pair of vocal ravens.

I sure missed that dog of mine—who had to stay home in a cone—but I can think of worse companionship.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 1:30 p.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.

1. Black-capped Chickadee*
2. House Finch**
3. Northern Flicker*
4. American Goldfinch* (v)
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay*
6. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
7. Golden Eagle
8. Black-billed Magpie**
9. Canyon Wren
10. Common Raven

Elsewhere

11. European Starling
12. Rock Pigeon
13. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
14. Eurasian Collared Dove
15. House Sparrow

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere

**Voice only elsewhere

Bone-Chilling

Tuesday, October 29th, 2019
Northern Flicker, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 29 October 2019.
Northern Flicker.

We were expecting a few inches of snow this morning but got only a few flurries. So instead of sticking around indoors—the forecast cold was accurate—dog and I had ourselves our thirtieth straight daily hike up the mountainside.

Not a lot of birds, but a flicker on a utility pole posted while poking about in the snow. Also saw a bunch of curiously quiet magpies in the Canyon Wren gulch.

In the neighborhood were a few of the usual suspects also. Brisk wind—perhaps one of the windiest days here for us—made the dipping temperatures seem bone-chilling toward evening. Brrr.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 10:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.

1. Black-billed Magpie*
2. Northern Flicker**
3. Black-capped Chickadee**
4. American Goldfinch** (v)
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** (v)

Elsewhere

6. Dark-eyed Junco
7. American Robin
8. House Finch
9. Eurasian Collared Dove

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere

**Voice only elsewhere

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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