You’ll have noted by now that I started keeping track of mammals recently. (And to a lesser degree, reptiles—which seem far less common.) Today there were two species: Mountain Cottontail and Rock Squirrel.
Both were in the area of the old lime quarry. The cottontail—a youngster—paused and posed a while. (A Rock Squirrel seen about the same time scramble into a little cave across the way.)
The elk and mule deer are dramatic in cold weather seasons, but I have a soft spot for the spring and summer cottontails.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:59 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Ah, an overcast day for a change. Our morning hike was far more humid than usual, but there was no warming sun beating down on Jack’s heavy coat, and his panting eased up a bit. (Still drank all his water.)
The birds on the trails were furtive and not very vocal, but it wasn’t hard to spot usual suspects. On the other hand, a few species made themselves apparent very subtly: a voice here or there, a flit within a juniper. At one point, when a female bunting posed for photos, I stopped to oblige—and saw a second little bird perched there. A warbler, looked like.
Later, when I looked at the photos, it was easy to ID a Virginia’s Warbler. A female I believe. Never made a peep. Had I decided not to snap that pic, I would’ve missed it altogether.
Sometimes it’s the little things.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
A cool morning, a cloudless sky, a man and his dog headed up the trail again. The day began with the cries of a juvie Red-tailed Hawk and ended with the glide of a Turkey Vulture as we descended from a height.
In the interim, we encountered a load of birds—mostly (it seemed) fledgling Lazuli Buntings (a lot fewer singers than yesterday). but also a massive flock of Rock Pigeons, a flitting Black-throated Gray Warbler, and miscellaneous other usual suspects.
Our hike did include a spontaneous climb up to the cairn overlook—which left us both a little tuckered out, what with our advanced ages and all.
But seems we lived (truly lived) to see another day.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked about 1,000 feet up a mountain.
