A warm clear Saturday means busy mountain hiking trails. Sure enough, dog and I met several friends (human and dog) on our hike this morning. But despite more chatting than usual, I still managed to spot a few birds—among them, a solitary, circling buteo.
An adult Red-tailed Hawk it was. Giving a few of us birders a nice look. Also distant elk up on Parley’s Ridge, here and there a mule deer, a few distressed scrub-jays, chickadees, magpies, juncos.
Spent a couple hours up there (a half-hour more than usual). You could hardly ask for a busier, more interesting hike.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 10:30 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
First thing this morning, on stepping outside with dog, I found myself in a world of active, vocal birds. Starlings, a robin, woodpeckers, sparrows, finches—I counted eleven species within about five minutes.
Similar story on our hike at mid-morning—a warmish (temperature-wise), showery (both drizzle and snow showers) morning—with flocks of siskins, juncos, corvids, and a surprise Red-tailed Hawk (which barely escaped a posse of magpies that chased it away).
Every now and then, sometimes seemingly at random, you get a very birdy day.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 10:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee 2. Black-billed Magpie* 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** (v) 4. House Finch* 5. Lesser Goldfinch* (v) 6. Pine Siskin 7. Dark-eyed Junco* 8. Red-tailed Hawk 9. Song Sparrow* (v)
Elsewhere
10. European Starling 11. American Robin 12. House Sparrow (v) 13. Downy Woodpecker 14. Northern Flicker (v) 15. Rock Pigeon 16. California Gull
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Spied my first Bald Eagle in Utah this morning, a chilly morning, with more sun than was forecast—sun which soon disappeared behind clouds. Mostly sun, though.
We’d just encountered a young Red-tailed Hawk, dog and I, which stayed behind the branches of a small tree, allowing no decent photo. The eagle just appeared off over the valley, flying swiftly northward, toward (I assume) Great Salt Lake.
(Most eagles here have been goldens.)
Otherwise, and lovely Saturday hike, with breaks to visit with fellow hikers. The snow began soon after we’d returned home. Not much accumulation yet—but that’s expected to change within a few days or so
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9:45 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
1. Black-billed Magpie* 2. Black-capped Chickadee** 3. Song Sparrow* (v) 4. Lesser Goldfinch** (v) 5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v) 6. House Finch* (v) 7. Red-tailed Hawk 8. Bald Eagle
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
