Slept a little late, got a little busy, so we arrived at the trailhead a bit late, dog and I. Climbed the switchback, and arrived at the old Monarch Quarry just in time for a flurry of migrating birds.

At least I’m pretty sure they were migrating—aor that most of them were. Sparrows, a kinglet, bunch of yellow-rumps, and a gang of towhees. Those first fifteen or twenty minutes were pretty exciting, gotta tell ya. A few birds even posed for shady photos.

And at the end of our hike, back at the quarry’s edge, I happened to spy a random Steller’s Jay—which, as I followed at a distance with my binocs, turned out to be a pair.

Supposed to have rain showers tomorrow. Should be fun.

Grandeur Peak Area List
At 7:46 a.m. (8:46 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Spotted Towhee**
2. House Finch*
3. Yellow-rumped Warbler
4. Rock Pigeon*
5. American Robin
6. Pine Siskin
7. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
8. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. White-crowned Sparrow
11. Northern Flicker
12. Lesser Goldfinch
14. Black-billed Magpie** (v)
15. Steller’s Jay

Mammals

Mountain Cottontail
Red Squirrel

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere