There is no better place in North America to find gallinaceous birds than in the state of Colorado, and no better time of year to find them than in April. Our goal on this birding tour is to seek out the prairie-chickens (Lesser and Greater) of the eastern plains, the sage-grouse (Gunnison and Greater) and Sharp-tailed Grouse of intermountain parks, and the sometimes difficult Dusky Grouse of the mountains and ridges. Sprinkled in there will be Wild Turkey, Scaled Quail, Northern Bobwhite, and Ring-necked Pheasant. We'll also make a try for the very difficult White-tailed Ptarmigan, a long shot to be sure as it is secretive, cryptic, and poorly understood.

This trip might best be described as a "compare and contrast" tour: Gunnison vs. Greater sage-grouse; Lesser and Greater prairie-chickens; Brown-capped with Gray-crowned and Black rosy-finches; Say's vs. Eastern phoebes; McCown's with Chestnut-collared longspurs; Eastern and Mountain and Western bluebirds; Chihuahuan vs. Common ravens; Clark's vs. Western grebes--the list goes on. We'll also pay attention to different subspecies or races of birds such as Plains and Columbian Sharp-tailed grouse, Eastern and Western White-breasted nuthatches, Merriam and Rio Grande wild turkeys, and Red-shafted, Yellow-shafted, and interesting intergrades of flickers.

In addition, we'll take the opportunity to compare and contrast the birds of the various regions of the state, the Rockies, the eastern plains, and the intermountain basins or broad valleys known as "parks." But most importantly we'll see Colorado grouse and prairie-chickens in their elaborate, noisy, and colorful breeding displays, usually on "leks" but sometimes on small territories. By the end of the tour we expect to have seen about 140 bird species and another 20 of mammals and to have gained a better understanding of Colorado's birds and wildlife, mountains and plains.

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