Grand Canyon, Day 2 …

With all the obligatory pictures of the canyon out of the way yesterday, I could focus on the wildlife this morning, and this is what I have to show for it.

Here’s the best I could do, so far, for a mountain chickadee, a brand new bird for me.

Even more elusive than the chickadee, here’s a pygmy nuthatch, another new bird.

For contrast, here’s a Steller’s jay, whom we first saw in Glacier National Park back in 2021, almost begging me to take its portrait.

Here’s another spotted towhee portrait. After all the excitement of seeing one yesterday, there was a sextet of them foraging on the ground this morning more boldly than house sparrows.

Finally, while I was searching for birds in the woods, Anne took a nice hike along the rim trail, and over breakfast afterwards she asked me if I had seen the elk. When I admitted that I had seen none, she had us drive along the rim on our way out of the park until we encountered this beauty. By the time we found them, there were only two left, but they were quite inured to people and about twice the size of the white-tailed deer I see in Estabrook Park.

That’s it for the Grand Canyon, and tomorrow we’re off to Zion National Park. Wish me luck!