After a few nights of not quite enough sleep (ever since the bakyard mountain lion), I finally had a great one. Thus, the sun had already topped the peaks by the time dog and I hit mountain trail.
Somehow, accidentally (as is usually the case), we ended up doing our favorite high loop: up the shaded valley, around and over the ridge above Millcreek Canyon, down to the Pipeline Outlook, and back.
[Note: I’m still learning the names of places here. Please forgive my past misnomers.]
The weather was cool, breezy, nearly cloudless, lovely. The birds were fairly abundant, interesting, fun to watch, and maddeningly uncooperative photo subjects. Still, I had a blast—in particular, today, observing behavioral peculiarities.
For instance, not 50 feet from the trailhead, a magpie fledgling fluttered over onto a low branch very near Jack and me. This caused the parents to freak out, swoop down, and immediately begin to yell at us things like “Away with you, human devils!” Also, “Begone, murderers!” Jack was a lot less fazed than I.
Not long after, I watched a female Lazuli Bunting flit down onto a dead twig not far from the trail. At once this bird ducked its head down, raised its tail, and opened its wings a bit—then began to quiver a little and (just maybe) begin to emit a faint call that might be described as a nearly inaudible “Squee!” (I actually took a little video of this, half-expecting a male to show up and the two of them to get busy, but it didn’t happen.)
That’s not all, but I won’t bore you. Suffice it to say that these little observations of bird behavior never cease to astound and entertain.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked some 1,200 feet up a mountain.
An earlier, dryer hike than yesterday’s. Although not quite as birdy, still exceptionally satisfying.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Most notable are subtle differences in behavior among the resident species—differences that mean there’s been nesting, hatching, even fledging going on. Earlier nesters (like Spotted Towhees) have gone a bit quieter and more secretive. Magpies (which might well have the earliest fledglings here) have turned suddenly vocal and pugnacious. And later arrivals have just begun incubating. Like the pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks whose nest near (the trailhead) I found the female occupying today.
The only other actual nest I’ve found is the gnatcatchers’ (a tiny thing above a shady stretch of trail), whose photo you’ve seen here recently. But I know where several other birds’ nests are—or will be—judging by just the behavior of the birds.
(E.g., the male MacGillivray’s warbler whose declarative song is evidence of its claim to a tangly mass of foliage, waiting expectantly for just the right female to arrive.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Steady rain for a couple hours this morning. First I’ve experienced in my six-plus weeks in Utah. A break came at mid-morning, so Jack and I headed up the mountain.
Also first mud I’ve experienced here. Was hopeful for some migration action—and got a little, including my first glimpse of Townsend’s Warbler and Hammond’s Flycatcher (no photos, alas) Also an unidentified warbler passing through, along with a couple of unidentifiable passerines moving overhead.
Couldn’t really decide which photo to post first, a white-crowned I spied on the trail, or one of the resident towhees that perched for a portrait. Decided on the towhee, since it’s the common, handsome resident.
Lovely morning.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 10:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
