As forecast, a cold front blew in last night. Temp dipped from 92° (F) yesterday to 42° this morning—and we even got our first little spattering of rain in 40 days. But the big news was the wind.
A gust of 112 miles an hour was rumored to have swept through The University of Utah campus about 7 a.m. (An 89-mile-an-hour gust confirmed.) Quite a few trees felled, semisd blown over, and other damage reported down in the basin. All morning, the power kept blinking off and back on.
Of course Jack and I hiked, as usual, despite the windy, wintry conditions (other than an eerie calm below the ridge and in Coyote Canyon). Only four species on my hike list. They ain’t no dummies, those birds.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:08 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Black-capped Chickadee
2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
3. Spotted Towhee (v)
4. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (v)
Elsewhere
5. Lesser Goldfinch
6. House Finch
(v) Voice only
Tags: black-capped chickadee, blue-gray gnatcatcher, house finch, lesser goldfinch, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
