Hummingbirds are everywhere just now—especially in the leafy gully called Coyote Canyon. Broad-tails, mostly, but also black-chins and the occasional rufous. Plus (I just found out today, when an ebird hummingbird expert corrected a couple errant IDs I made a few days back) calliopes. Encountered at least a dozen hummers in the gully this morning.
Also witnessed a dramatic chase, when a Cooper’s Hawkwhooshed from the slope behind dog and me in pursuit of a robin. The robin flew as fast as it could, weaving through the trees with the hawk on its tail, calling as it fled (in robin language) Hawk! Hawk! Gotta confess, that hawk’s whooshing wing sounds gave me goose flesh as it sailed past not six feet from me. Not sorry I didn’t see the result of that chase.
Later this hot afternoon, during errands, I saw three crows. That was cool
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 6:57 a.m. (7:57 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Lesser Goldfinch** 2. Mourning Dove 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 4. Western Kingbird 5. Spotted Towhee 6. Black-chinned Hummingbird 7. Rock Pigeon 8. Black-billed Magpie* (v) 9. House Finch* 10. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 11. Broad-tailed Hummingbird 12. Downy Woodpecker (v) 13. American Robin 14. Cooper’s Hawk 15. Black-capped Chickadee 16. Warbling Vireo (v)
Elsewhere
17. Eurasian Collared-dove 18. House Sparrow 19. California Quail 20. American Crow
Mammals
Red Squirrel Mountain Cottontail
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Another dry, breezy morning without a lot or singing birds. The residents have nests, seems sure, and a few species are still moving through.
For instance, the first-of-year Western Kingbird we happened upon, dog and I. Heard it first, didn’t recognize its voice—I haven’t encountered more than a handful, and only one or two in spring—then managed a photo from a distance. Six vultures circled through also. The rest (of only fourteen spp. total) were locals.
In other news, for the second straight day I watched a pair of gnatcatchers chase a scrub-jay from its perch in the big Russian olive tree.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:09 a.m. (8:09 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
Sneaking down to the bluff this morning—the bluff overlooking the basin, a regular first stop on my daily hike with dog—I surprised a little Sharp-shinned Hawk perched in a stubby scrub oak. The hawk flew back toward the mountain but didn’t top the rise, I saw, so I crept toward it along a deer trail and spied it perched in another scrub oak not too far away.
Had I not been sneaking, the hawk would’ve flow long before I got within twelve or fifteen feet of it. Had I not followed its flight, I wouldn’t have noticed its failure to top the rise. Had I not bothered to creep toward it (despite the distance), I’d’ve never got its photo.
A birder’s instinct, I reckon.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 7:59 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.