A lovely cool morning with fair skies and plenty of sun. Cool in the shade, anyway. The mud’s drying up fast—although we’re advised to expect some rain (possible snow) over the next few days).
A dozen species again—though nothing outlandish. In fact, my most outlandish sighting involved arguably the commonest bird species in these parts: a magpie dining on a dead vole (I think it was).
Lots of towhees singing up the trail. (Lots of ’em.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9:15 a.m., I hiked a couple hundred feet up the mountain.
1. Black-billed Magpie* 2. Northern Flicker** (v) 3. American Robin* 4. Downy Woodpecker (v) 5. Black-capped Chickadee* 6. House Finch* (v) 7. Pine Siskin 8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay* 9. Spotted Towhee 10. Dark-eyed Junco 11. Sharp-shinned Hawk 12. Song Sparrow* (v)
Elsewhere
13. Lesser Goldfinch (v) 14. European Starling 15. Eurasian Collared Dove
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
A gray, warmish, muddy, springlike day. Got to the trailhead at late morning under a mostly overcast sky. Saw elk, deer, dogs, and humans—and ten bird species.
Two of the species were towhee and junco. These two bring me back more than fifty years, to when I was in junior high school in North Carolina. My mother kept a backyard feeder back then, and I remember her being impressed one day by two new birds that had come by. She must’ve looked them up in a book. Towhee and junco. I remember thinking what curious bird names those were.
That former was an Eastern Towhee, of course, and the one I saw today was a spotted Towhee. But they’re very much alike, as are all the assorted races of Dark-eyed Junco that inhabit North America.
Still and all I remember my mom’s muted excitement at identifying those two new birds. Likely she had a lot to do with my being a birder.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 11:15 a.m. (DST), I hiked a few hundred feet up the 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
