A mostly overcast morning, with a slight breeze and a trace of humidity in the air. Birds were active near the trailhead—but up on the deer trails, things were eerily quiet. For example, I counted a flock of a couple dozen magpies below the bluff, but heard only two singing towhees above it.
So I had to pay closer attention to subtle signs. The abrupt chip of a grosbeak. The sharper chip of a bunting (few of which were singing also). The dry chip of a Black-throated Gray Warbler. Heard a singing gnatcatcher. Heard both young and adult Cooper’s Hawks. Subsequently saw all these birds except the hawks.
True, most of the subtle signs were heard. But I did spy a faint movement among the rocks that turned out to be a pair of doves.d
No rain today, but the chances of thundershowers are forecast to increase as the week progresses.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:10 a.m. (8:10 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch* 2. California Quail (v) 3. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 4. Lazuli Bunting 5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 6. Lesser Goldfinch** (v) 7. Mourning Dove 8. American Robin 9. Black-headed Grosbeak 10. Black-billed Magpie* 11. Rock Pigeon* 12. Black-chinned Hummingbird 13. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 14. Cooper’s Hawk (v) 15. Spotted Towhee 16. Black-throated Gray Warbler
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Good walk with dog this morning. Cooler and drier than yesterday’s muggy hike. A few more species, still not much vocalizing, adults keeping track of juvies. And still big flocks of Rock Pigeons circling above the foothills.
I think a lot about the local pigeons. I wonder when and why they flock, why the flocks vanish, why they return. From what I’ve observed, they tend to stick around the neighborhood (unsurprisingly), where they hang out in small groups in fall and winter. Come spring, they must start to pair off, because they more or less disappear—or appear much more rarely, and usually in pairs. Then, after the youngsters fledge, they gang up again and flutter around the slopes together looking for food. Which they tend to find somewhere amid the myrtle spurge.
Maybe I’m wrong, dunno. Just don’t call them “invasive.”
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 6:48 a.m. (7:48 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Ever day while out hiking, we encounter at least a few surprises, dog and I. This morning—in a warm, dry (mostly) overcast—we encountered several:
• a random Red-tailed Hawk soaring over the elementary school below us; • a random grosbeak flitting up to an exposes perch between us and the hawk; • several sildent buntings popping up, males and females and juvies; • three towhees only, and identified only by their voices; • a surprise tanager (young male) appearing in a tree in front of us; • the surprising discovery, when he turned his head, that the tanager had only one eye; • the surprise appearance of a motionless gopher snake stretched out right next to the trail on our return.
I’m sure there were more, but those are the ones that stand out as I write on the evening of this day—after a surprise late-afternoon thundershower showed up and soaked our thirsty landscape.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 6:42 a.m. (7:42 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. Rock Pigeon* 3. Mourning Dove 4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 5. Black-capped Chickadee 6. Lazuli Bunting 7. Black-chinned Hummingbird* 8. Black-billed Magpie* 9. Black-headed Grosbeak 10. House Finch** 11. Red-tailed Hawk 12. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 13. Spotted Towhee 14. Lesser Goldfinch** 15. Western Tanager
Elsewhere
16. House Sparrow 17. California Quail
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
Reptiles
Great Basin Gopher Snake
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
