I hiked up Death Canyon. Despite the ominous sounding name, its a beautiful hike with many birds and flowers starting to bloom. Last year I did not drive to the official trailhead because the dirt road is rough and I did not want to take Silver truck on that road. This time Subaru was awesome and did very well on that road. Aspens are fully leafed out, early flowers like Balsamroot and Shooting Star are past their prime. Photo to the right is a Leopard Lilly. I don't find these very often. Warbling Vireos, Green-tailed Towhees, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and Dusky Flycatchers were singing from the trees. A Ruffed Grouse was drumming from a well-hidden location off the trail. Chipping Sparrows and Juncos sang their similar songs, while Mountain Chickadees whistled from the taller shrubs. They sound hoarse compared to the Black-cappeds.
I was lucky to find a cooperative Green-tailed Towhee who sat for many photos like this one.
Melt water from the high peaks is thundering
down canyon, white and turbulent. Of course the mountains were beautiful.
Below photo is where I stopped. This snowfield covered the trail and I am not walking on that steep angle snow without crampons !!
Gorgeous scenery. As a nonbirder, I looked up mountain chickadee and black-capped vireo and listened to their songs and calls. Again, to a nonbirder, they appear to be a photographic negative and positive of the same bird, both with black cap, but with the vireo's eye on a white stripe and the chickadee's eye on a blak stripe. The wing markings are somewhat similar. Different songs, though. The mountains are like something out of a geology textbook showing tilted strata. You have a great eye for detail, Karen.
ReplyDeleteWonderful narrative and photos as always! I'm glad you erred on the side of safety and didn't try to cross the snowfield.
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