Still raining lightly this morning. Mists up in the mountains. Waited a couple hours for the rain to disperse a bit, then ascended the switchback into a landscape that I could almost hear sighing in sweet relief.

We were the only human and dog up there, but we encountered some interesting (if quiet) bird life. Like the red-tail perching on the cell tower below the bluff, the pair of Warbling Vireos, the random Rufous Hummingbird down by the gully. (Noticed for the first time that their wing beats have a distinctly different sound than either a black-chin’s or broad-tail’s.) And the little flock of chattering swallows as we descended toward the trailhead.

Last nights t-storm cut some nice deep ruts in the trails and slopes. We got kinda soaked from hiking through the freshly washed scrub oaks—but it wouldn’t have been nearly as sweet if we’d come out dry.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 9:12 a.m. (10:12 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Lazuli Bunting
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v)
3. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
4. Mourning Dove*
5. Rock Pigeon*
6. House Finch
7. Red-tailed Hawk
8. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
9. Black-chinned Hummingbird
10. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
11. Rufous Hummingbird
12. Cooper’s Hawk (v)
13. Warbling Vireo
14. Spotted Towhee (v)
15. Song Sparrow (v)
16. Barn Swallow

Elsewhere

17. California Quail
18. Black-billed Magpie

Mammals

Rock Squirrel
Red Squirrel

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