Lots of flocks lately. It’s that flocking time of year. On our hike this morning, dog and I met another dog and human, and the human told me she’d just seen a big flock of pigeons in which there was one white bird. That describes the local pigeons I’ve seen flocking nearly every day lately. Not this morning, curiously—only saw two.
But we did encounter a flock of fifteen robins, a mix of adults and youngsters. Saw them on the bluff, then again later up the foothills a ways. Next was a smallish flock of finches, adults and immature birds, in the burnt patch (as usual, albeit not nearly as many in recent days). Otherwise it was pretty quiet—maybe because of the smoke in the air from western fires, mixed with the usual ozone and particulates in the basin. Heard on the radio that we had the eleventh worst air-quality in the world today.
Finally, a little while ago this coolish evening, just after sundown, I watched a flock of 33 magpies fly noisily northward against the light in the western sky above Wasatch Boulevard. Yep, also adults and juvies.
Tomorrow we have about a 40 percent chance of rain, so they say. A little rain should clear the air.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 6:58 a.m. (7:58 MDT), I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. House Finch*
2. American Robin*
3. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
4. Lazuli Bunting
5. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
6. Mourning Dove
7. Black-billed Magpie*
8. Lesser Goldfinch** (v)
9. Rock Pigeon
10. Black-chinned Hummingbird*
11. Pine Siskin
12. Spotted Towhee
13. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
14. Chipping Sparrow
Elsewhere
15. House Sparrow (v)
16. Eurasian Collared-dove
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-billed magpie, black-capped chickadee, black-chinned hummingbird, blue-gray gnatcatcher, chipping sparrow, Eurasian collaed-dove, house finch, house sparrow, lazuli bunting, lesser goldfinchdd, mourning dove, pine siskin, rock pigeon, spotted towhee, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
