Despite the severe, extended drought, the local bird population is exploding around here. Well, maybe not exploding—but increasing manyfold. It happens every year about this time, of course, because fledglings.
Lately I’ve seen finch fledglings, magpie fledglings, chickadee fledglings, vireo fledglings, robin fledglings—bunting fledglings, too, I think. Swallows taking flight for the first time. Also, back in the neighborhood, little baby quails. It’s one of Nature’s many miracles.
Never mind that it’ll be 100°-plus the next few days. Earth’s critters were built to survive.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 6:55 a.m. (7:55 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee 2. Rock Pigeon 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v) 4. American Robin* 5. Black-chinned Hummingbird 6. Mourning Dove 7. Lazuli Bunting 8. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9. Pine Siskin (v) 10. Spotted Towhee 11. House Finch* 12. Black-headed Grosbeak (v) 13. Cliff Swallow 14. Black-billed Magpie* 15. Warbling Vireo (v) 16. Song Sparrow** (v)
Elsewhere
17. House Sparrow (v) 18. Turkey Vulture 19. Barn Swallow 20. California Quail 21. European Starling
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
I finally captured a Warbling Vireo. Photographically, I mean.
For a long time now—the past what? two–three weeks?—I’ve heard members of the local Warbling Vireo family singing in cool, leafy Coyote Canyon (a.k.a., “the gully), where they also nested last year. I’ve even caught sight of ’em a few times, but they’re skittish, this being fledgling season. They also tend to sing on one perch for a while, making them a challenge to spot in the first place—until they flit away to a distant tree.
I hadn’t taken a photo of this bird since soon after its spring arrival. Until this particular warm summer morning.
Decided to stalk a vireo I heard singing above us a ways. But we ended up passing the bird, singing off to one side, so turned around and crept slowly back down. Suddenly, the singing erupted from a tree directly above us.
Tip: One of the best ways to get a decent wild bird photo is to simply wait for the bird to come to you.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:12 a.m. (8:12 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
This morning on awakening, for the first time since the switch to Daylight Saving Time—when for the first time I refused to change my (manual) clocks—I tripped up on the math. I thought I’d awakened too early, at 6:45 instead of 7, when I’d actually overslept. That is, I read my bedside clock to be DST (7:45) instead of the actual non-DST time.
So we hit the trail about a half hour later than in recent days, Jack and I. It was warm, summery, and sunshiny. We warmed up in a hurry, and the sweat/panting persisted pretty much throughout.
But never mind all that, it was a good hike (if not particularly conducive to photos). We kept it short and sweet (an hour and 20 minutes or so), yet still I got a good list of birds.
More summery weather to come. But I expect to wake up a little earlier tomorrow.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:36 a.m. (8:36 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
