This morning’s hike with Jack was a little different, in that we traveled in a group of four humans and four dogs. The dogs were friendly and well-behaved, and the humans were looking for wild birds.
And wild birds were found. Not everyone saw every species, but there were plenty to choose from—including two first-of-year (to me) birds: Violet-green Swallow and Gray Flycatcher. (I’d thought at first the flycatcher was a lifer, but turns out I spotted my first last May.) Was a fun time.
Tomorrow will be a summerlike day, so they say. Very likely the best spring migration birding in the week or two to come.
[Aside: Tomorrow afternoon I’m scheduled to give a Zoom slideshow presented by Coastal Mountains Land Trust, facilitated by the Camden (Maine) Public Library, comparing and contrasting the birds and other wildlife of coastal Maine and the Wasatch range. Fun!]
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:30 a.m. (8:30 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Another bright but chilly morning, a morning filled with birdsong. No new migrants, but plenty of recent ones—and a couple of mystery birds.
I didn’t see the mystery birds, although in two cases I chased their songs. In one particularly thrilling instance, I spied a good-sized, quiet, plain-colored bird swoop in front of us into the undergrowth, never to be seen again.
In two instances, I chased birds whose voices I recognized in hopes of getting a photo, to no avail. This happens a lot, but the disappointment gets shorter by the year, because I know there’ll be more birds to chase—and a successful chase is worth at least a score of misses.
Good chance of rain showers in the morning. A successful chase in a little weather is best of all.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:39 a.m. (8:39 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
I hadn’t planned to hike with dog to the ridge this morning, but then I caught sight of a Black-throated Gray Warbler. Eager for my first photo of one this spring, I followed the bird uphill, from juniper to juniper, until it flitted back down below. Foiled again.
But while I was up there, I noticed how close we were to a plastic bag I’d seen flapping in the breeze from a scrub oak snag a few days ago. So I climbed higher to grab that annoying bit of litter. Then we encountered a small herd of deer, which moved up to the ridge, and I thought, Why not? Spooked a couple Chukars up there.
First-of-year Hermit Thrush (for sure) this morning. Realized the trill I’ve been hearing the past couple days belonged to an Orange-crowned Warbler. No corvids, oddly—but a total of 18 species.
Tomorrow won’t be so long a hike, but who knows what birds will appear.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:23 a.m. (8:23 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
