Warm morning—about freezing when we hit the trail, and well above on our (muddy) return. Between times, I spotted mostly the usual suspects—and one unusual suspect. I’m referring to the Canyon Wren that popped up in the little rock-pile cave in the old Monarch Quarry.
We followed our usual route, moseyed over to the bluff, and on returning along the quarry’s edge I heard the familiar little whank! call of the wren. And I froze. And Jack-my-dog froze at my side. And I said aloud, as we waited, “It might be a little while.”
But it wasn’t long before the second whank! came from within the rocks, and the wren emerged, calling, and poked around a bit before disappearing back into the shadows.
The rest of the hike was good, too, but that wren will stick with me.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9:09 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch* 2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay* 3. Black-capped Chickadee** 4. Rock Pigeon* 5. Canyon Wren 6. Dark-eyed Junco 7. Spotted Towhee 8. Black-billed Magpie* (v) 9. American Robin* (v)
Elsewhere
10. Eurasian Collared-dove 11. Northern Flicker 12. House Sparrow 13. European Starling 14. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
Mammals
Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
A calm, nearly cloudless morning with chillier temps (20s (F)) than yesterday—and a bunch of nice surprises to discover. The first being a Canyon Wren in the rocky cavity up near the bluff. I heard it first, remembered the call from early spring, and managed even to spy the little energetic bird.
Soon after that sighting, I decided we should climb up to the ridge where the cairn stands—where I’d seen (from a distance) that it’d partly fallen in on account of (I assume) a few very windy days. It’d been a couple-three months, at least. Past time.
And it was a grand climb, a lovely view. I repaired the cairn (more or less), and dog and I ascended a couple hundred feet above it, sat a spell, then came back down (during which descent I heard—then spotted—a couple Chukars) and finally hiked a stretch of our usual trail, for good measure.
Good measure turned out to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk, perched low in the scrub not far away, casting about for voles or juncos until a trail runner jogged by.
All in all a very fine day.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:20 a.m. (MST), I hiked some 1,200 feet up a mountain.
Slept late this morning. We didn’t make it to the trailhead until the sun had long cleared the ridge. Warm, not too breezy. Didn’t know what to expect.
Not many birds on my list, but what showed up were vocal. The usual buntings and towhees and grosbeaks, along with chippies, finches, gnatcatchers. No magpies, which was odd. And the cherry on top was a cooperative Black-throated Gray Warbler (singing an interesting alternate song that—astonishingly—didn’t fool me).
After two long hikes, today’s was a quick one. Rain forecast for the weekend. Wind and rain. Scattered thunderstorms. Should be interesting. Looking forward to it.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
