8 February 2025

Posts Tagged ‘black-capped chickaee’

Overcast

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021
Black-headed Grosbeak (female), East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 23 June 2021.
Black-headed Grosbeak (female).

A mostly overcast morning for a change. Rather warm, with just a touch of humidity made evident by some moistness on my arms. A good hike with dog.

Most impressive to start with was a cooperative female Black-headed Grosbeak who perched with a wasp in her beak for a good long time while I angled for a photo. I suspect there’re nestlings nearby, and she didn’t want Jack or me (or any other threatening critter) to follow her to that important place. (Just a wild-ass guess.)

Otherwise, saw a Cooper’s Hawk zip by, then heard another at the nest above the gully give a cry in expectation. I’m imagining they have nestlings, too. Maybe.

Back home, the magpie nestlings keep hollering at their exhausted-looking parents. One male (I assume) youngster constantly pesters his smaller mom (I assume) to put the food directly in his mouth, like she used to.

Also saw an adult with a good-sized mouse (or other rodent), dead in its beak. Magpies are omnivorous corvids, after all.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:16 a.m. (8:16 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Song Sparrow* (v)
2. Spotted Towhee
3. Rock Pigeon*
4. Black-headed Grosbeak
5. American Robin* (v)
6. Lazuli Bunting
7. Black-chinned Hummingbird
8. Black-capped Chickadee
9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
10. House Finch**
11. Cooper’s Hawk
12. Warbling Vireo
13. Black-billed Magpie* (v)
14. Chipping Sparrow (v)

Elsewhere

15. Eurasian Collared-dove
16. European Starling
17. House Sparrow
18. California Quail

Mammals

Rock Squirrel

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

Portrait

Thursday, August 13th, 2020
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (female), East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 13 August 2020.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (female).

A very good hike with Captain Jack this morning. Still pretty quiet, bird wise—but a lovely lady hummingbird paused long enough for me to grab her portrait for a change..

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
2. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
3. Black-chinned Hummingbird
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Green-tailed Towhee
6. Spotted Towhee
7. Lazuli Bunting
8. House Finch
9. American Robin
10. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
11. Mourning Dove
12. Lesser Goldfinch

Elsewhere

13. Black-billed Magpie

Mammals

Rock Squirrel

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere

**Voice only elsewhere

Bone-Chilling

Tuesday, October 29th, 2019
Northern Flicker, East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 29 October 2019.
Northern Flicker.

We were expecting a few inches of snow this morning but got only a few flurries. So instead of sticking around indoors—the forecast cold was accurate—dog and I had ourselves our thirtieth straight daily hike up the mountainside.

Not a lot of birds, but a flicker on a utility pole posted while poking about in the snow. Also saw a bunch of curiously quiet magpies in the Canyon Wren gulch.

In the neighborhood were a few of the usual suspects also. Brisk wind—perhaps one of the windiest days here for us—made the dipping temperatures seem bone-chilling toward evening. Brrr.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 10:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.

1. Black-billed Magpie*
2. Northern Flicker**
3. Black-capped Chickadee**
4. American Goldfinch** (v)
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** (v)

Elsewhere

6. Dark-eyed Junco
7. American Robin
8. House Finch
9. Eurasian Collared Dove

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere

**Voice only elsewhere

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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