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.
For his 12th birthday today, Captain Jack, my dog, and I veered off the familiar foothills trail and up a grassy slope. And up and up to a rocky climb. And up some more. Kept going to an altitude of 6,736 feet—our highest climb so far.
Saw a high-elevation flicker on a rock. Heard my second Canyon Wren. met some fellow hikers coming down from a longer hike than ours.
Both of us are kind of achy and sore this night. (Jack’s just now napping on his birthday toy in the middle of the floor.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked about seventeen hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee 2. Black-billed Magpie* 3. American Robin* 4. House Finch 5. Northern Flicker** 6. Eastern Towhee 7. Lesser Goldfinch 8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** 9. Dark-eyed Junco 10. Golden Eagle 11. American Kestrel 12. Canyon Wren (v)
Elsewhere
13. Song Sparrow 14. California Quail 15. Eurasian Collared Dove
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
