Before I move to Utah, I asked a birder friend what I might expect out here. “Magpies,” he said. “Lots of magpies.”
He wasn’t wrong—magpies are the crows of the Salt Lake City area (although there are a scant few American Crows here also). The local corvids are various jays (I’ve seen only scrub-jays), the occasional raven, and Black-billed Magpies.
I’ve come to like them, though, magpies. As I did the crows of Maine.
Lovely day today. Few bird species where dog and I happened to roam— but plenty to see and hear and think about.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 10:45 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
1. House Finch*
2. Dark-eyed Junco**
3. Black-capped Chickadee**
4. Black-billed Magpie*
5. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
Elsewhere
6. Song Sparrow (v)
7. Eurasian Collared Dove
8. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay (v)
9. Rock Pigeon
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed juco, Eurasian collared dove, house finch, lesser goldfinch, rock pigeon, song sparrow, Woodhouse’s scrub=jay
