Sub-freezing, cloudless morning, but quite a few birds about. Goo hike with Jack—couple of hawks, the usual suspects. The highlight was, perhaps, a kestrel that visited the neighborhood. Took a photo, I thought—but I didn’t have an SD card in my camera.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 10:00 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
The Hawk and Wren. Sounds like an Irish pub, don’t it? But in fact it’s two of the several bird species I spied up the mountainside out back this morning.
The wren—a Canyon Wren—was more fun. The little guy, hollering his lungs out, entertained Jack and me until I got to feeling bad for causing him so much distress, at which point we high tailed it out of there.
The hawk came a bit later, at the end of our fruitful hike.
Another fine day in Utah.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 9:30 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
This morning’s hike—kind of a late one—was a hike of raptors. The day began in the 30s (F) but warmed quickly as the sun spread. Didn’t expect many birds, but not only did I spot quite a few, one was a lifer: Golden Eagle.
It was one of four raptors (three species), circling the summit of Grandeur Peak. I could see it was a very large bird. I could see it had oval patches of white on its underwings. I thought it possible, but I didn’t know for sure until we got back home, dog and I, and I managed to look up the field marks.
A memorable one for sure.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 10:15 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
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
