My morning hike with dog was supposed to be a short one (since grocery shopping after was in the cards), but I got waylaid by some interesting birds. And not a few this day.
Hawk in the big olive tree. Pigeon and chickadee and gnatcatcher and warbler and yet another (unidentified) hummer—and sparrows.
(The sparrows brought the thrills this day, especially a young white-crowned.)
Grandeur Peak Area List At 7:12 a.m. (8:12 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Got to the trailhead a bit earlier this morning, still cool, shady, breezy—and quiet. Missed a few more little flitty birds, too, but in the early sunny spots, a few sparrows emerged.
Three species, to be precise: chippies, Brewer’s, and (first in I don’t know how long) a single immature white-crowned hanging with the little guys. And later, back home, a family (or two) of House Sparrows showed up in the garden, dining on sunflower seeds.
I kinda dig sparrows.
Grandeur Peak Area List At 7:07 a.m. (8:07 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Early in our hike this morning, dog and I encountered two first-of-year bird species, migrants that had likely arrived overnight. In a bit of irony, both sparrows, and they appeared on different twigs of the same tree: a White-crowned Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow. I wonder if they flew together.
It was a calm morning, with a hazy half-overcast. Warm enough, and dry. Mammals were about also—cottontails, squirrels, deer. Titmice, a high-flying sharpie, and up in the junipers, another chippy.
Supposed to be cloudy the next few days, with calm overnights. Could well mean more new arrivals.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:49 a.m. (8:49 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 3. Black-billed Magpie 4. House Finch** 5. Mourning Dove (v) 6. Spotted Towhee 7. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** 8. Juniper Titmouse (v) 9. White-crowned Sparrow‡ 10. Chipping Sparrow‡ 11. Rock Pigeon* 12. Black-capped Chickadee 13. Sharp-shinned Hawk 14. Northern Flicker (v) 15. Pine Siskin (v) 16. Lesser Goldfinch (v) ** 17. California Quail
Elsewhere
18. European Starling
Mammals
Red Squirrel Mountain Cottontail Mule Deer Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere ‡First-of-year bird
