Migration. This morning’s hike began quiet for maybe the first ten minutes in the mountain shade—then took off in a hurry. So many little birds moving through. Including (of course) a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers.
I’m used to the Myrtle subspecies back east, but I’ve gotten fairly accustomed to the Audubon’s out here in the high desert. This species is among the most abundant in North America, and even in a drought, they’re all over the place just now. Proof of fall migration.
I counted 25 ’rumps this morning (likely an undercount). One cool thing is, I can now ID this bird from its chip note—which is similar, but not identical, to the version back East. (A touch sweeter than the dry chip! of the eastern variety.) Other birds on the move: robins, kinglets, junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Mountain Chickadee. (The latter might be year-round residents, but they’ve sure been flitting around all over the place lately.)
Quite a list today. But I have to say I had the most fun following all the little yellow-rumps flitting around.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:26 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
This morning’s cooperative bird was—much to my surprise—a Mountain Chickadee. It flitted, chattering, up to the bluff where dog and I had paused to look and listen. We stood still, and it approached very near, and I grabbed a few photos.
For some reason this happy episode got me thinking of all the species I’ve seen up there with “mountain” in their names. Mountain Bluebird, for instance, and Mountain Cottontail—even Mountain Coyote (which is more of a subspecies, I guess). I feel sure I’m missing at least one. But I’ve come to appreciate the perfection of that simple yet rich, descriptive term in their common names.
Thanks, little chickadee.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:24 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
A lot of migration going on this clear, chilly (40s (F)) morning. Clear—but dog and I still spent much of the beginning of the hike in mountain shade.
Cassin’s Vireo?
But birds were moving through even in the shade. Many Yellow-rumped Warblers, many American Robins. A couple of gnatcatchers, a pack of six Mountain Chickadees, and a whole bunch of Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
I heard the slight, abrupt chatter a kinglet down in Coyote Canyon, but it had headed up the leafy slope and was out of photo range, so we continued down a ways before turning back up—and I heard it again, same spot. It occurred to me that the switchback for the high ridge hike was uphill of the bird, so we crept up that steep trail…
…and right into a flock of between sixteen and twenty kinglets. They were everywhere, but always in low tangles of foliage. I bet I stood there ten minutes before I finally got one of those quick-moving critters to stop long enough for a half-way decent portrait.
[Elsewhere, I snagged a pic of what I’m pretty sure was a migrating a Cassin’s Vireo—a lifer for me, if so.]
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:21 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
