Every day for the past couple weeks, a pair of California Quail step up to my front porch, gaze upward for a minute (gauging their destination), and fly up onto my roof. I don’t know why.
I do know I truly appreciate the quail in the neighborhood. California quail have been introduced to Utah from their home state beginning about 150 yeas ago, and they’ve taken kindly to the environment. They’re a familiar sight here—dashing across the streets, clicking and calling, fluttering up into decorative conifers—and I see them up the trails also.
Their a colorful species with a pretty cool personality. Happy to call them neighbors.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Among the commonest—and certainly the loudest—bird species hereabouts is the Black-billed Magpie. Which makes it rather astonishing that I haven’t seen or heard any the past two days on my hike up the mountain with dog.
However, I’ve seen plenty down in the neighborhood. And it’s pretty clear what’s going on.
Early nesters, magpies are, and after the youngsters fledge, they seem to move downhill. E.g., across from the trailhead over the past couple weeks, I’ve spied several ganging up on a neighbor’s cat. Plus, just about everywhere you can hear the whine of the big, goofy fledglings.
Today, after a couple thundershowers, a family showed up in the yard. Been working at the front window, so I took a little break to watch these smart, sometimes annoying, highly entertaining local corvids.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Slept late this morning. We didn’t make it to the trailhead until the sun had long cleared the ridge. Warm, not too breezy. Didn’t know what to expect.
Not many birds on my list, but what showed up were vocal. The usual buntings and towhees and grosbeaks, along with chippies, finches, gnatcatchers. No magpies, which was odd. And the cherry on top was a cooperative Black-throated Gray Warbler (singing an interesting alternate song that—astonishingly—didn’t fool me).
After two long hikes, today’s was a quick one. Rain forecast for the weekend. Wind and rain. Scattered thunderstorms. Should be interesting. Looking forward to it.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
