Cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon. We hiked in morning under a cloudless sky, dog and I, and the sun warmed us up nicely. Few other humans or dogs, but quite a few good birds—e.g., a female Western Tanager.
But most noteworthy might’ve been three raptors: one of the resident Cooper’s Hawks, a pair of Golden Eagles perched high on the ridge (first eagles in a while), and, on our return, a lone soaring Red-Tailed Hawk.
(Lots of little hummingbirds, too.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:28 a.m. (8:28 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
A morning much like yesterday’s, but sunnier, less breezy—and dog and I were about a half-hour later hitting the trailhead. Still no flood of new migrants, but lots of buntings, one or two active Cooper’s Hawks, warblers, chippies, and the rest. Also a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
I’d kind of forgotten about gnatcatchers, so it was a nice surprise to encounter a first-of-year male. Immediately recognized its thin, insistent voice, then watched it poke about the scrub oaks a bit. Fun.
Lovely day, truly. More first-of-years to come, and a fair week ahead to greet them.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:47 a.m. (8:47 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
At 5:50 a.m. this morning, a sound out my bedroom window brought me immediately from sleeping soundly to alert and awake. It was the distinctive, bright whistle of a mountain lion.
I only learned the sound a couple weeks ago, when I first heard it—and soon after saw (at a distance) what animal was doing the whistling. I’d then researched the sound online a bit, and apparently internalized its pitch and timbre. Which is why, upon awakening—instead of running for my camera and trying for photos—I lay there perfectly still with my eyes wide open.
A minute or two later, after I heard the cat’s final kip-kip as it moved away up the hill, I double-checked the recordings I’d found, Sure enough, that had to be a cougar. Later I heard a security cam on a street not far from me had captured a pic of a mountain lion this a.m. So it wasn’t a dream after all.
Thus, today’s hike with Captain Jack came with a little extra distraction—but the only critters I encountered up there were birds.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked some 1,500 feet up a mountain.
