A week or so ago, I thought the Cooper’s Hawks might’ve flown the nest—or perhaps, thanks to the record drought, the nest might’ve failed. But yesterday I heard two youngsters and an adult in the nest area. And again today: the voices of two juvies and an adult.

Then one of them—adult male, I’m pretty sure—left the trees in a riot of calls and perched in a maple not far away. And stared.

I’m a long-time vegetarian (vegan, in fact), but I’m delighted to know the local accipiters are fit to survive. We’re fellow animals, after all—the hawks, my dog, and me. All part of Nature’s miraculous web of life.

And we’d all of us appreciate a little rain.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 6:56 a.m. (7:56 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
2. House Finch**
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay*
4. Mourning Dove
3. Lazuli Bunting
6. California Quail* (v)
7. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
8. Black-chinned Hummingbird
9. Red-tailed Hawk
10. Spotted Towhee (v)
11. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
12. Cooper’s Hawk
13. Pine Siskin (v)

Elsewhere

14. Rock Pigeon
15. House Sparrow
16. Black-billed Magpie

Mammals

Red Squirrel
Mountain Cottontail
Rock Squirrel

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