Dog and I got the trailhead early this morning, while things were still in the mountain shade. Surprisingly cool considering the recent unseasonable heat wave. Fewer birds—but interesting behavior.

Including, on our return trip, a dramatic tryst between pair of Lazuli Buntings. The female seems to start things off, by leaning forward, tail high, and fluttering her wings. The male obliges (the “cloacal kiss” takes about one second), and this little quickie is followed by one or two more. I suppose in a couple weeks o so we’ll see a bunch of nestlings—then summertime fledglings demanding to be fed.

Several other resident species have gone quiet, meantime, suggesting they, too, have eggs or hatchlings. This miraculous annual reproductive cycle happens pretty quickly by our sense of time—but continues dependably year after year after century after millennium.

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 6:48 a.m. (7:48 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. American Robin* (v)
2. Lazuli Bunting
3. Rock Pigeon*
4. Black-chinned Hummingbird
5. House Finch**
6. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
9. Black-billed Magpie*
10. Black-headed Grosbeak (v)
11. Mourning Dove
12. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
13. Warbling Vireo
14. Black-throated Gray Warbler (v)
15. Chipping Sparrow (v)

Elsewhere

16. European Starling
17. House Sparrow (v)
18. California Quail
19. Song Sparrow (v)
20. Lesser Goldfinch (v)

Mammals

Rock Squirrel
Red Squirrel

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