Today for the first time I heard the song of a Townsend’s Solitaire. Toward the end my hike with dog this morning, I spotted a pair of these cool western thrushes zipping around on a high slope with junipers on it. Come to find out they subsist on junipers during the off-season.
Anyway, they were singing. Or at least one of them was. The song had a thrushy timbre, but it involved many notes in a rather rapid flurry, much like improvisational jazz. It was glorious.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for these cool new (to me) birds going forward.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 10 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
1. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay*
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. Canyon Wren (v)
4. Townsend’s Solitaire
5. Dark-eyed Junco**
6. Northern Flicker (v)
7. Black-billed Magpie*
8. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (v)
9. House Finch*
10. Spotted Towhee (v)
Elsewhere
11. Lesser Goldfinch
13. House Sparrow (v)
14. Song Sparrow (v)
15. Eurasian Collared Dove
16. American Kestrel
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American kestrel, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, canoyon wren, dark-eyed junco, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, northern flicker, ruby-crowned kinglet, song sparrow, spotted towhee, Townsend’s solitaire, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
