Last night’s front brought a tiny bit of rain and cooled things off considerably. However, the sun being bright this morning, dog and I embarked on a ridge hike.
Along the way—in the lower elevations, where the scrub oak grows—we passed many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I love this little birds. They flit, they flash their tails, the travel in betrothed pairs (or seem to), the have wee, antic, plaintive voices. Last year I knew of a nest along the trail. Hoping for another this year.
Otherwise, although no first-of-years, a bunch of species on this morning’s list. Still expecting something of an influx when the warmth takes hold again.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:31 a.m. (8:31 MDT), I hiked about 1,200 feet up a mountain.
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds have not been cooperative when it comes to posing for photos—until today.
I’ve caught glimpses of these high-elevation hummers in Coyote Canyon—the cool, shady valley that dog and I ascend each morning—as they zip around hunting tiny insects among the proliferous bigtooth maple leaves. But the light is dim, and hummingbirds are active, and I sort of gave up.
Today, though, there a few (or more) were making those cricket-like sounds with their wings above us as, so I stopped to watch and listen, and a male decided to perch right in front of me. (I rarely see males, either, since they’re basically chauvinist pigs who sleep around and the leave the nest-building, chick-rearing, and youngster-feeding to females.)
Male Black-throated Gray Warbler feeding fledgling.
Felt good to grab that photo.
In contrast, just beyond the hummers, I happened upon a male Black-throated Gray Warbler bring a small lacy-winged insect to a begging fledgling.
And so life goes on despite it all.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Serious birders use shorthand for the species they see or hear—four-letter alpha codes (based on the English names) standardized by the Institute for Bird Populations. So when you hear somebody say they saw a MODO and a flock of BOWAs, what they really mean is they saw a Mourning Dove and a bunch of Bohemian Waxwings.
The rules are fairly easy to follow, but sometimes there are conflicts. Back in Maine, for instance, when I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler, I might refer to it as a BTGW—but now that I’m birding Utah, what if I spy a Black-throated Gray Warbler? Welp, gotta learn to refer to it as a BTYW.
Long story short: today I saw a BTYW.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
