A cool summer morning, with maybe one or two little clouds in the blue, blue sky. Kind of a bad air day, but that didn’t stop dog and I from making our usual rounds.
So many juvies! Towhees, buntings, hummingbirds, finches, hawk gnatcatchers—pretty much every resident species (those that decided to stick around despite the historic drought) has fledged a successful brood The only towhee I saw today was a young ’un, in fact. And the chatter of an immature oriole lured over to catch a glimpse. Clear hot days for the foreseeable future. Sunday night’s storm has left a happy landscape (but it’ll not make a dent in the drought).
Today marks the second anniversary of my living in Salt Lake City.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:04 a.m. (8:04 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
This one was supposed to be a warm day. And it was. But the real heat didn’t rise until after dog and I had finished a delicious hike in the sun.
Delicious for me on account of all the migrating bird life—including a first-of-year (and very likely only-of-year) Plumbeous Vireo—and delicious for Jack on account of all the smells.
We shall see what tomorrow brings.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:42 a.m. (8:42 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Dog and I reverted to our usual hiking time this morning, deciding that the cool early shade might deliver as many species as later sunny, buggier conditions—plus, be more pleasant in the current warm, dry conditions. (Those conditions, by the way, are expected to change within a couple days, as a big cold front blows in.)
Still pretty quiet, with little obvious activity—but I dig a birding challenge and so have rather liked this pre-migration lull. Plus, I had a nice surprise bird: a lone female (perhaps immature male) Wilson’s Warbler popped up in shady Coyote Canyon near a pod of chatty chickadees.
And this afternoon at home—like icing on a cake—an immature Rufous Hummingbird made an appearance in the garden.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Mourning Dove 2. Black-billed Magpie* (v) 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 4. Rock Pigeon* 5. Spotted Towhee 6. Black-capped Chickadee* 7. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8. Wilson’s Warbler 9. Downy Woodpecker 10. Broad-tailed Hummingbird 11. Black-chinned Hummingbird 12. American Robin 13. House Finch** 14. Lesser Goldfinch**
Elsewhere
15. California Quail 16. Rufous Hummingbird
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
Reptiles
Side-blotched Lizard
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
