Ever day while out hiking, we encounter at least a few surprises, dog and I. This morning—in a warm, dry (mostly) overcast—we encountered several:

• a random Red-tailed Hawk soaring over the elementary school below us;
• a random grosbeak flitting up to an exposes perch between us and the hawk;
• several sildent buntings popping up, males and females and juvies;
• three towhees only, and identified only by their voices;
• a surprise tanager (young male) appearing in a tree in front of us;
• the surprising discovery, when he turned his head, that the tanager had only one eye;
• the surprise appearance of a motionless gopher snake stretched out right next to the trail on our return.

I’m sure there were more, but those are the ones that stand out as I write on the evening of this day—after a surprise late-afternoon thundershower showed up and soaked our thirsty landscape.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 6:42 a.m. (7:42 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. American Robin*
2. Rock Pigeon*
3. Mourning Dove
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
5. Black-capped Chickadee
6. Lazuli Bunting
7. Black-chinned Hummingbird*
8. Black-billed Magpie*
9. Black-headed Grosbeak
10. House Finch**
11. Red-tailed Hawk
12. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
13. Spotted Towhee
14. Lesser Goldfinch**
15. Western Tanager

Elsewhere

16. House Sparrow
17. California Quail

Mammals

Rock Squirrel

Reptiles

Great Basin Gopher Snake

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