There is no better place in North America for gallinaceous birds than the state of Colorado—and no better time of year to find them than in April. Our goal on our Colorado Grouse birding tour is to seek out the prairie-chickens (Lesser and Greater) of the eastern plains, the Sharp-tailed Grouse and two sage-grouse (Gunnison and Greater) of the intermountain parks, and the sometimes-difficult Dusky Grouse of the mountains and ridges. Sprinkled in there could be Wild Turkey, Scaled and Gambel’s quail, Ring-necked Pheasant, and the harder-to-find Northern Bobwhite. Weather permitting, we’ll also make an attempt to find the difficult White-tailed Ptarmigan, resident in high-elevation areas above treeline.

This trip might best be described as a “compare and contrast” tour. That is to say, we’ll be visiting distinctly different North American biomes, making it possible to encounter several closely related pairs or trios of birds in Colorado and adjacent states. Some of these are East-West differences, but others are more complicated: Gunnison vs. Greater sage-grouse; Lesser vs. Greater prairie-chickens; Say’s vs. Eastern phoebes; Eastern, Mountain, and Western bluebirds; Clark’s vs. Western grebes—and the list goes on.[Our tour description text continues below the video.]

Guide Micah Riegner has compiled a video of highlights from the 2025 Colorado Grouse Field Guides tour that we think you'll enjoy watching! Click on the video to get it started, or on the fullscreen icon at bottom right of the video to see it in larger format.

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 (those broad valleys known as “parks”). But most importantly, we’ll see Colorado grouse and prairie-chickens in their elaborate, boisterous, and colorful breeding displays, usually on “leks”. We often see more than 140 bird species and 20 species of mammals by the end of the tour, and should have a better understanding of Colorado’s birds and wildlife, mountains, and plains. Join us on this wonderful, action-packed tour in search of Colorado’s grouse.

Field Guides is an equal opportunity service provider and an authorized permittee of the Pawnee National Grassland.

Select the KEY INFO tab or click here for our itinerary plus space requests, status, fees, limits, and guides for any departure.

Client comment
"I always travel with Field Guides because of the excellent guides and office support. I chose this tour to see the lekking grouse. I hesitated to sign up for a tour in the US (I prefer to "guide myself" in my home country!) but I am so glad I did. I could never had found the incredible grouse on my own, or come even close to the variety of birds our guides found for us. Your office service was excellent, as always. Field Guides is always the gold standard in my book. Another perfect exper