This morning’s hike up the cool, shady foothills began quietly. It took a good fifteen minutes before I had a half-dozen bird species on my (mental) list. Feathered things did begin to flit and flutter, but mostly hidden by vegetation or in swift flight from one place to another. Time to lay low, apparently. The final count (thirteen) was the lowest I can remember.
One of a pair of tanagers.
Still, things were interesting—plenty of young buntings and towhees and robins. (In fact, all that hidden chipping and subtle vocalizing made for a challenging birding excursion.) No outlandish sightings, true.
But lucky thirteen turned out to be another pair of tanagers in the tanager.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 2. American Robin 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 4. Mourning Dove 5. Lazuli Bunting 6. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7. Black-chinned Hummingbird 8. House Finch** 9. Rock Pigeon* 10. Spotted Towhee 11. Pine Siskin (v) 12. Black-headed Grosbeak (v) 13. Western Tanager
Elsewhere
14. Black-billed Magpie 15. House Sparrow 16. Red-tailed Hawk
Mammals
Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
There’s a particular tree overlooking what appears to be an old quarry near a bluff overlooking my neighborhood, a tree dog and I pass on the trail each day on our morning hike. For whatever reason, birds like to perch up in that tree. And among the species I’ve seen there multiple times is Western Tanager.
Today I spied a female tanager perched there, too far away for a photo. But we’ve been visiting the bluff both at the beginnings and ends of our stroll in the foothills, and on the return trip, both male and female were in the tree. The male had in its beak what looked at first like a dragonfly—but it could’ve been any other large insect. It let me snap a few pics as it dined.
I don’t know what kind of tree it is. But I want to know. I’m determined to put a name to it (and will let you know when I do). It’s a very cool tree, with extremely fragrant yellow flowers that’ve long gone by.
For now, I think of it as “The Bird Tree.”
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Rock Pigeon* 2. Mourning Dove 3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay** 4. Black-chinned Hummingbird 5. Lazuli Bunting 6. House Finch* 7. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8. Spotted Towhee 9. American Robin* 10. Pine Siskin 11. Western Tanager (v) 12. Black-capped Chickadee** 13. Black-throated Gray Warbler 14. Virginia’s Warbler 15. Warbling Vireo (v) 16. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
This morning’s hike took dog and me along our familiar route south along the shoreline trail, up Coyote Canyon (so-called) and back via deer trails up among the junipers. There were a lot of nice surprises.
Up the in the cool shady canyon, I heard the sapsucker-like call of a female Cooper’s Hawk and got a nice look at a randomly appearing female Yellow Warbler. In the junipers, I have a favorite shady spot where I like to pause, look and listen. Warbling Vireos, Black-throated Gray Warbler, chickadees, robins. Returning I spied a tanager and oriole, heard a magpie—even caught sight of a collared dove.
Just about every bird occurs to me as a nice surprise.
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Rock Pigeon* 2. Mourning Dove 3. Black-chinned Hummingbird 4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay* 5. Lazuli Bunting 6. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7. House Finch** 8. Pine Siskin 9. Spotted Towhee 10. Black-capped Chickadee 11. Lesser Goldfinch 12. Cooper’s Hawk (v) 13. Yellow Warbler 14. Black-throated Gray Warbler 15. Warbling Vireo (v) 16. American Robin 17. Western Tanager 18. Eurasian Collared Dove 19. Black-billed Magpie (v) 20. Bullock’s Oriole
Elsewhere
21. House Sparrow 22. Barn Swallow
Mammals
Mountain Cottontail
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Bird Report is an intermittent record of what's outside my window in Rockport, Maine, USA (44°08'N latitude, 69°06'W longitude), and vicinity. —Brian Willson
