Every day for the past couple weeks, a pair of California Quail step up to my front porch, gaze upward for a minute (gauging their destination), and fly up onto my roof. I don’t know why.

I do know I truly appreciate the quail in the neighborhood. California quail have been introduced to Utah from their home state beginning about 150 yeas ago, and they’ve taken kindly to the environment. They’re a familiar sight here—dashing across the streets, clicking and calling, fluttering up into decorative conifers—and I see them up the trails also.

Their a colorful species with a pretty cool personality. Happy to call them neighbors.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Song Sparrow* (v)
2. American Robin* (v)
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay*
4. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
5. Black-headed Grosbeak
6. House Finch**
7. Black-chinned Hummingbird*
8. Pine Siskin (v)
9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
10. Lazuli Bunting
11. Spotted Towhee
12. Black-billed Magpie*
13. Black-throated Gray Warbler
14. California Quail* (v)
15. Warbling Vireo (v)
16. Chipping Sparrow
17. Western Tanager (v)
18. Lesser Goldfinch (v)

Elsewhere

19. European Starling
10. Eurasian Collared Dove

Mammals

None

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere