A bird’s been singing for more than a week up little Coyote Canyon, just above where dog and I typically veer off onto the upper deer trail, so we’ve been heading up the gully in search of it. But it’s always kept far enough off trail to make the chase futile. This morning looked at first to be a repeat of this routine—but then the bird flitted down below us up into a maple right along the trail. Just had to sneak quietly down in the direction of its buzzy voice, and there it was.
Nearby was also a Warbling Vireo, a couple other wood-warblers, an accipiter, chippies, buntings, and towhees. It’s a birdy place up there this time of year.
As is just about every place, if you take a walk outside.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:33 a.m. (8:33 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
A warm, sunny day was forecast, but it turned out to be warm and mostly cloudy. A perfect day for the arrival of Lazuli Buntings.
It was the sixth species on my list this morning—three up on the bluff (a good, high spot for migrants). Bright blue glinting in a patch of sun. Saw another later, and also got a glimpse of a first-of-year Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Plenty of firsts-of-years yet to come. Again, I look foward to the morning.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:26 a.m. (8:26 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
A nearly cloudless, chilly morn—but not as chilly as yesterday. Soon enough, in fact, the rising sun warmed us up considerably, dog and me. And there were birds.
Heard, then saw, a male American Goldfinch. Not a migrant necessarily, but my first since last year. Two vultures moving through. A calling Red-breasted Nuthatch. A calling quail. Two scrub-jays “kissing.” A couple vultures circling, A solitary solitaire.
On our return, not far above the trailhead, I heard the sudden, loud song of a warbler in a leafing-out maple nearby. I left the trail and slid down the slope a bit and finally got a glimpse of it: a first-of-year Orange-crowned Warbler. (I’m determined now to become wholly familiar with their song.)
Tomorrow it’s supposed to get to 80° (F). I expect more new birds moving through.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:12 a.m. (8:12 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Song Sparrow** (v) 2. American Robin* 3. Spotted Towhee 4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 5. American Goldfinch 6. Rock Pigeon* 7. Red-breasted Nuthatch 8. Townsend’s Solitaire 9. Northern Flicker** (v) 10. California Quail 11. Lesser Goldfinch* (v) 12. House Finch** 13. Cooper’s Hawk 14. Turkey Vulture 15. Dark-eyed Junco 16. Orange-crowned Warbler†
Elsewhere
17. House Sparrow (v)
Mammals
Rock Squirrel Mule Deer Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year bird
