On this cloudless, chilly, love morning, Captain Jack and truly enjoyed our daily hike, way up on the mountainside, far from the coronavirus. Noteworthy sighting: my first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the year moving through (heard it, then spied it).
The climactic moment was stalking another singing towhee. (In fact, there were three singing towhees, but one in particular, calling from a high sunny perch, had an especially talented musical ability.) It let us get close enough for a photo or two.
Later, in town, oddly—a raven showed up above a busy street, soaring as if it were in the Bonneville basin long before humans settled here.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 9:15 a.m. (DST), I hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain.
1. Black-billed Magpie*
2. Black-capped Chickadee**
3. House Finch*
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
5. Dark-eyed Junco
6. Red-breasted Nuthatch†
7. American robin *
8. Spotted Towhee
9. Northern Flicker** (v)
Elsewhere
10. European Starling
11. Rock Pigeon
12. Common Raven
13. Eurasian Collared Dove (v)
14. Lesser Goldfinch (v)
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: Ameican robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, common raven, dark-eyed junco, Eurasian collared dove, European starling, house finch, lesser goldfinch, northern flicker, red-breasted nuthatch, rock pigeon, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
