18 April 2025

Posts Tagged ‘dblue-gray gnatcatcher’

A Little Magic

Tuesday, June 29th, 2021

Up the trail with dog as usual, and as lately in the cool, cool shade. Many birds at first—and all told the most species in a while—plus just a little visual magic today for whatever random reason.

For instance: Rock Squirrels perched high on a rock on a ridge, one high, one low; a hummingbird teed up on a twig, the waning gibbous moon behind it; and in late afternoon, a red-tail perched on a utility pole, as an incoming jetliner passes in the sky behind it. (Saw what I assume was the same hawk, on the same pole, this early morning.)

A little magic is a good thing.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:11 a.m. (8:11 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Lazuli Bunting
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
3. House Finch**
4. Mourning Dove
5. Black-chinned Hummingbird
6. Spotted Towhee
7. Rock Pigeon*
8. Black-billed Magpie**
12. Black-headed Grosbeak (v)
10. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
11. Common Raven
12. American Robin* (v)
13. Sharp-Shinned Hawk
13. Warbling Vireo
9. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
11. Pine Siskin (v)
17. Song Sparrow* (v)
18. Lesser Goldfinch**

Elsewhere

19. California Quail
20. House Sparrow
21. Eurasian Collared-dove
22. Red-tailed Hawk

Mammals

Red Squirrel
Rock Squirrel
Mountain Cottontail

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

Warming

Tuesday, June 1st, 2021
Lazuli Bunting (male), East Millcreek, Salt Lake City, Utah, 01 June 2021.
Lazuli Bunting (singing).

It’s that time of spring when things go from kind of warm to hot. Dog and I got to the trailhead early enough to enjoy some cool shade before the sun topped the ridge, but the last half mile was a little toasty. Still not as toasty as this afternoon. Which was not as toasty as tomorrow afternoon is forecast to be.

Still a goodly number of bird species—including a gang of first-year Western Tanagers, a stealthy Cooper’s Hawk, and the usual singing buntings. Although number of singing buntings and towhees was down a bit from yesterday.

We might even head up a little earlier tomorrow, dog and I.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 7:24 a.m. (8:24 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Lazuli Bunting
2. Black-headed Grosbeak
3. American Robin*
4. Black-chinned Hummingbird*
5. Spotted Towhee
6. Black-capped Chickadee
7. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
8. Western Tanager
9. House Finch**
10. Cooper’s Hawk
11. Orange-crowned Warbler (v)
12. Virginia’s Warbler (v)
13. Chipping Sparrow (v)
14. Warbling Vireo (v)
15. Chukar (v)
16. Mourning Dove
17. Pine Siskin (v)
18. Black-billed Magpie*

Elsewhere

19. Eurasian Collared-dove
20. California Quail
21. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay

Mammals

Rock Squirrel

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

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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