While I’m out looking for wild birds to photograph, sometimes a mammal pops into view. And of course I cannot resist.
This warm morning, it was a Mountain Cottontail. (My usually alert dog didn’t seem to notice—but he’s never been a chaser, so I’m not sure.) It began to hop away, but then everybody stopped, and I watched it mosey over and begin to munch on a sprig dry grass.
Otherwise, a lovely little hike. Plenty of birds flitting in the greenery (many with secret fledglings), and not a few on perches, singing.
Ah, summertime.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Did the ridge circuit with dog this morning, a three-and-a-half mile hike up Coyote Canyon (so-called) to a summit above the terminus of the Pipeline Trail. Warm, sunny, breezy, dry.
Not nearly as many individual birds as yesterday, nor as many species. But all around it was a lovely Independence Day hike for both Captain Jack and me.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked 1,200 feet or so up a mountain.
During this morning’s bright, breezy hike with dog, I encountered more wild birds than I have since at least last fall. Quite a few species, too—but I’ve had more species on my list this year. Just not as many individual birds.*
The youngsters have been sprung free.
Many young finches, many young robins, random other juvie birds—along with the usual high number of buntings and towhees. By my count, 107 individuals—among them (today’s highlight) a curious Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring.
*Not counting large flocks of Rock Pigeons.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:45 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Bird Report is an intermittent record of what's outside my window in Rockport, Maine, USA (44°08'N latitude, 69°06'W longitude), and vicinity. —Brian Willson
