Western Tanager

It would have been easy to drop my hiking pole over the cliff (like Gayle the other day) when I saw this bird on a trail that would soon present a marvelous vista of Ouray CO.  After fighting the urge to immediately run to Bobbie (in the Ouray RVing and Hiking Team) for help, I actually managed to identify it as a western tanager. It would only pose for one shot before it flew off. (From my 'birds' album in Picasa:)

This made the hike for me, as did coffee and banana/pumpkin bread back in town.