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Mount Elden aspens in full color - better hurry!

The eastern slopes of Mount Elden are in full Fall colors right now and the aspens are just gorgeous. I was up there this afternoon and snapped a few pictures. The angled sunlight coming in from the west really made the leaves glow like they were on fire. Here's a panorama I made from the Sunset Trail:

Photoshop's photomerge goofed up a little but the panorama still came out pretty good; unless you look closely you can't even tell. One of these days I'll plan ahead and bring a tripod with me.

Here's another one, this time a vertical shot of some young aspens intermingled with some old, dead snags from the Elden fire back in the 70's. I like this shot as it illustrates the full cycle of life in the forest: the old (dead) trees giving way to the young.

The aspen groves up on the Peaks haven't started to turn yet but you can bet when they do I'll have some shots to post for ya'll.

Pinyon Jays at Mt. Elden

Last weekend's extreme birding hike around the east side Mt. Elden produced many sightings of old favorites like Turkey Vultures, Northern Flickers, Steller's Jays, Swallows, and Red-Tailed Hawks. My course was from the the Fatman's Loop trailhead to the lookout tower then back along the spine of Elden to the Hart Trail and then down to Christmas Tree and back to the Fatman's Loop. It was about 8.6 miles and took me not quite five hours to complete with two breaks. Not bad for someone who hasn't done much long distance hiking in two years. Unfortunately, my left knee didn't think it was such a great idea and I'll be staying on level ground for this weekend's hike!

If there's one thing Grandfather Elden is good for it's letting you know in no uncertain terms what your weaknesses are.

On the Christmas Tree trail about a mile from the end of the hike I visited with a flock of Pinyon Jays:

I've seen these guys around before but this is the first sighting this year and my first one since I've been recording my species encounters. Pinyon Jays are of the same family (Corvidae) as Crows and Ravens and share their amazing intelligence. Pinyon Jays are known for caching away pinyon seeds and then being able to recall their exact locations months later. They're very social birds and are often seen in large flocks. The group that I saw had about a dozen individuals, which isn't very big but probably about normal for Elden.

The light wasn't great so the birds in these pictures appear much duller than they really were. They were actually a very light bluish gray overall.

Dusky Grouse on Mt. Elden

While hiking the Sunset Trail on Mt. Elden today I was startled to within an inch of my life by this bird suddenly flushing out of the aspen thickets about five feet from where I was walking:

From the size, location, behavior, and color patterns I believe that it's a female Dusky Grouse, possibly some sort of local variant. The slight crest kind of throws off the exact match but the feather patterns are close enough. After scaring the bejesus out of me it settled down on a log about twenty feet away and stood very still, like it thought I couldn't see it. While I was snapping pictures it clucked softly, reminiscent of a chicken. I'm sure these guys are common up there but for me it's a first sighting.

Unlike last weekend, the birding on Elden was very good, especially in the lower P/J forest and mid slopes of the mountain. For much of the initial mile or so I was followed by a large group of very curious Steller's Jays, all screeching and calling to one another my every move. Farther up I glimpsed Western Scrub Jays, Hairy Woodpeckers, flocks of Mountain Chickadees, and heard the sweet songs of American Robins. And even better, while eating lunch near the top of the Hart Trail I was treated to a very large Turkey Vulture circling slowly around and around inside the crescent of Elden. Spectacular!

For next weekend's hike I'm considering taking the Hart Trail from the highway 89 trailhead to the lookout, down to Fat Man's Loop, and then back on Christmas Tree. That's a very long walk - over five hours. I'd better get an earlier start on that. None of this sleeping in until 9AM!