Enjoyed yet another hike with dog this morning—albeit the most muggy one I can recall. Last evening’s rain had soaked in and/or dried up overnight, but the atmosphere held traces of the rare, welcome wetness. Didn’t at all mind the sweat it drew from my pores.
Not a lot of bird action—mostly because fewer birds are vocalizing. Yep, it’s that time of year: having left the nest, youngsters must be fed and kept track of; hawks (and dogs and humans) are about; the territorial imperative is less important than simply finding food and surviving. No need to make a lot of noise.
I heard only three singing towhees, and maybe four singing buntings. (Compare that to spring!) Counted only six of each species. Before long, both will have abandoned their songs entirely, resorting only to subtle chips and chatters.
Still, the singers will be back next April and May.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 6:55 a.m. (7:55 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
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
A week or so ago, I thought the Cooper’s Hawks might’ve flown the nest—or perhaps, thanks to the record drought, the nest might’ve failed. But yesterday I heard two youngsters and an adult in the nest area. And again today: the voices of two juvies and an adult.
Then one of them—adult male, I’m pretty sure—left the trees in a riot of calls and perched in a maple not far away. And stared.
I’m a long-time vegetarian (vegan, in fact), but I’m delighted to know the local accipiters are fit to survive. We’re fellow animals, after all—the hawks, my dog, and me. All part of Nature’s miraculous web of life.
And we’d all of us appreciate a little rain.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 6:56 a.m. (7:56 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
