I’d never seen a Black-headed Grosbeak until I’d moved to Utah. Saw a single quiet grosbeak in the shady switchback late last summer or in early fall, just for a moment. Impressive-looking bird that I knew nothing about.
Now, in deep spring, I feel like I know them fairly intimately. Not least because of the grosbeak nest I spotted about fifty paces from the trailhead where dog and I begin our daily hikes. From my observations, I’ve learned that both males and females will occupy the nest—and that this particular male often sings while sitting there in the leafy shade.
I’ve learned also that grosbeaks sing a lot—both sexes. (However, I haven’t yet seen any territorial skirmishes of the sort I’ve read about.) I know their song, of course—and their loud, staccato chip-note, which is similar to a Rose-breasted Grosbeak’s, but less squeaky.
Knowledge through observation: the most satisfying part of being a birder.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked about 1,200 feet up a mountain.
A lovely hike this morning. Dog and I did what I call the Millcreek Ridge Circuit—up the switchback to the Pipeline Trail lookout, then climb the ridge west a while, then take the shady valley back down to the lower trail.
New (to me) flowers blooming every day, it seems (some with lovely fresh smells I’ve never smelled). First time I’ve seen all the shades of spring green—plus, of course, the bright June colors of western birds.
(Note: I believe the gnatcatchers have fledged.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked about 1,200 feet up a mountain.
1. Black-billed Magpie* 2. Black-headed Grosbeak 3. Black-chinned Hummingbird 4. Lazuli Bunting 5. House Finch* 6. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 7. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8. Spotted Towhee 9. Rock Pigeon 10. American Robin* 11. Song Sparrow** (v) 12. Pine Siskin (v) 13. Chipping Sparrow (v) 14. Warbling Vireo (v) 15. Chukar 16. Orange-crowned Warbler (v) 17. Western Tanager (v) 18. California Quail*
Elsewhere
19. House Sparrow (v) 20. European Starling 21. Mourning Dove 22. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
Mammals
None
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
There’s a high slope with a southern exposure along the trail I hike with Jack each day, a slope that’s dotted with Utah Juniper trees. Besides the junipers, it’s mostly a sagebrush barren—with a few scrub-oaks sprinkled here and there. But I’ve come to know the little junipers as good places to look for birds.
For one thing, there’re the little blue berries—hundreds, thousands of them. Certainly they attract thrushes (solitaires, robins), corvids (magpies, scrub-jays), finches, and a bunch of other birds. Their branches are perches for singers like Chipping Sparrows and Spotted Towhees and Lazuli Buntings. Nearly every time I’ve seen a Black-throated Gray Warbler, it’s at least stopped off briefly in a juniper’s thick, safe interior.
For another thing, they offer shade—and a barrier to hide behind while sneaking up on, say, a singing Warbling Vireo. Also they make for a nice green-dotted high-desert landscape.
As we used to do in Texas, some locals here call them “cedars.” But they’re junipers to me.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
