The snow on the trails was mostly well-packed when dog and I started up the switchback this morning. By the time we reached the bluff, I had seven birds on my list. Not much up the in the benches, though—except for Black-billed Magpies. In fact, the most visible critters up there were magpies and a half-dozen or so deer.
Black-billed Magpie.
We were the only human and canine for all of it. Then, as we stopped by the bluff again, I spied a young Sharp-shinned Hawk on the hawk snag.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9:07 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
The sun emerged, and the hike was nice. Many birds down in the neighborhood, not so many up the mountainside. I should say not so many species, because two of the seven I listed showed up in numbers
First was a gang of 16 Woodhouse’s Scrub-jays, flapping about, hollering at each other, moving through the scrub-oaks. Then came a pod of seven chickadees, flitting up the switchback.
(Nice, too, were a few mule deer watching us from the juniper barren.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:57 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
Rain showers were in the forecast for this warmish morning, so dog and I didn’t waste any time in getting up the switchback. The overcast persisted, but no precipitation fell in our vicinity. Still, I didn’t expect to end up with many wild critters on my list.
I was wrong: plenty of bird species popped up (many willing to pose), and a Rock Squirrel made its first appearance in a while.
Notable were a softly singing Townsend’s Solitaire, a Juniper Titmouse, and a female Cassin’s Finch awaiting our return to the trailhead.
Would that tomorrow’s might be this fun.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:38 a.m. (MST), I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
