I see more doves and pigeons here than I ever did in Maine. For one thing, there’s an extra species (Eurasian Collared Dove); for another, the pigeons here come in flocks of a hundred or more—at this time of year, at least, when they swoop and veer in huge numbers up and around the foothill canyons.
Alhough I rarely get an up-close look at them, today dog and I encountered a solitary bird perched on a rocky overlook. We stopped. It stayed, I approached nearer. It stayed. I got near enough for close-up photos, and the pigeon didn’t move. Then I noticed the blue band around it’s leg.
Not the first banded pigeon I’ve seen here, turns out. I got nothing against pigeons, though. In fact, I rather like ’em.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds have not been cooperative when it comes to posing for photos—until today.
I’ve caught glimpses of these high-elevation hummers in Coyote Canyon—the cool, shady valley that dog and I ascend each morning—as they zip around hunting tiny insects among the proliferous bigtooth maple leaves. But the light is dim, and hummingbirds are active, and I sort of gave up.
Today, though, there a few (or more) were making those cricket-like sounds with their wings above us as, so I stopped to watch and listen, and a male decided to perch right in front of me. (I rarely see males, either, since they’re basically chauvinist pigs who sleep around and the leave the nest-building, chick-rearing, and youngster-feeding to females.)
Male Black-throated Gray Warbler feeding fledgling.
Felt good to grab that photo.
In contrast, just beyond the hummers, I happened upon a male Black-throated Gray Warbler bring a small lacy-winged insect to a begging fledgling.
And so life goes on despite it all.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Even quieter this morning. Warmer, breezier, and quieter. Took longer to count more than a handful of species—and the numbers didn’t come until the sun topped the ridge.
Fewer individual birds than yesterday, but lots of juvies still. Saw a warbler I couldn’t ID before it flew. [I think it might’ve been an orange-crowned.] Lots of buntings and towhees still—but few singing.
Nothing rare or thrilling maybe, but Captain Jack and I loved it anyway. Plus, I got a portrait of a scrub-jay.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Rock Pigeon* 2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 3. Black-capped Chickadee** 4. Mourning Dove 5. House Finch** 6. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7. Black-chinned Hummingbird 8. Spotted Towhee 9. Lazuli Bunting 10. American Robin 11. Warbler (sp.) 12. Pine Siskin (v) 13. Lesser Goldfinch**
Elsewhere
14. Black-billed Magpie 15. Eurasian Collared Dove 16. House Sparrow
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
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
