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This Greater Prairie-Chicken strutted atop one of our tour vans at a lek near Wray, Colorado. See below for a video of the roof chicken experience! Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
April marks one of the most interesting birding months of the year in Colorado, and we were there to see a LOT of it. On this giant figure eight of the state (plus the two unexpected, bonus states of Kansas and Nebraska), we became acquainted with five species of lekking grouse and found plenty of the region's specialty resident and migrant species along the way. Overall, the weather held quite nicely for us, and the tour went off without a hitch.
On our first full day, we drove east along the Arkansas River corridor, stopping first in desert habitat near Pueblo to see Scaled Quail, Mountain Plovers, and Sage and Curve-billed thrashers. Farther east, we birded several large reservoirs, finding a large assortment of waterfowl and grebes and a marsh full of Red-winged and Yellow-headed blackbirds.
After receiving some bad news about the Colorado Lesser Prairie-Chicken leks, we decided to head farther east than planned, rising early to get to the area north of Dodge City, Kansas (!) before dawn. We enjoyed a good morning experience with several Lesser Prairie-Chickens at a lek, and also scored some Greater Roadrunners and a delicious breakfast buffet before we "got out of Dodge".
A long afternoon drive sent us back into Colorado by way of Nebraska, and we met Bob Bledsoe at Bledsoe Cattle Company in the evening to learn about his ranching practices and scout out the Greater Prairie-Chicken lek for the following morning. The next day dawned clear and still, and we had an absolutely fantastic experience with nearly 30 chickens at their lek. We even had one fly up onto the roof of my van, so close that we could hear its toenails clicking on the roof above our heads (check out the video below). Leaving Wray on a major bird high, we stopped at Bonny Reservoir, picking up several eastern landbirds like Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, and Eastern Bluebird. A storm front blew across the plains in the afternoon, and our visit to the agricultural fields of Arriba was ill-timed to coincide with the most blustery part of the day. However, we quickly found a hurricane of McCown's Longspurs (over 4,000 - easily the most that Chris and I have ever seen!) and some very confiding Mountain Plovers.
The next morning, we ate a hearty Rocky Mountains breakfast in Idaho Springs before ascending to nearly 12,000 ft in elevation at Loveland Pass. There we were met by some terribly cold and windy weather, but tenacious searching helped us find our target -- two White-tailed Ptarmigan popped out of a snow cave and fed in a patch of willows for some amazing views. What an experience! We warmed up and headed for Silverthorne, where we enjoyed all three species of rosy-finches as well as Clark's Nutcrackers and a Gray Jay. The afternoon drive was marked by vistas of some incredible Rocky Mountain peaks. A flock of Pinyon Jays interrupted our drive to Gunnison, but we got in to town in time to enjoy a nice dinner and an early bedtime.
Another early start found us going east of Gunnison to the famous Wuanita Hot Springs lek, the only publicly accessible Gunnison Sage-Grouse lek in Colorado. From the bench seats of a trailer blind, we scoped these rare grouse on a distant ridge, and also enjoyed some good views of local predators like Golden Eagle, Red Fox, and Coyote. The afternoon took us north of Gunnison to Crested Butte, and we found American Dipper, Red-naped Sapsucker, and a whole bunch of finches. Feeders in Crested Butte held all three species of rosy-finches (great looks at Black), Cassin's Finches, and even two Pine Grosbeaks! We retraced our steps to Monarch Pass and turned up a female American Three-toed Woodpecker, another Pine Grosbeak, and a soaring pair of Golden Eagles.
The tour's sixth full day took us from Gunnison to Grand Junction, with some scenic stops and driving along the way. First, we scoped Barrow's Goldeneye at Blue Mesa Reservoir, and then we looked for Dusky Grouse (no dice) at Black Canyon of the Gunnison, finding enchanting, snow-covered rocks, Evening Grosbeaks, and Townsend's Solitaires instead. Continuing on to Grand Junction, we tracked down five Lewis's Woodpeckers before touring the majestic Colorado National Monument in the golden sunlight of late afternoon.
On our morning out of Grand Junction, we first searched for Gambel's Quail (quick success!) before spending time in the rocky canyons of Cameo. Here, among the boulder-strewn slopes, we found Rock and Canyon wrens and our target chicken, the introduced Chukar. A long drive north to Craig gave us some extra time in the afternoon to search for grouse. While we struck out on late-in-the-day Dusky Grouse, we DID see a porcupine up in a tree.
Coming down to the wire for Dusky Grouse, we made a predawn stop near Hayden, and THERE HE WAS! A male Dusky Grouse was strutting in the middle of the road in our headlights, and we enjoyed some solid views of this low-density chicken before our main stop of the morning, a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek south of Hayden. Here we got to see the wing-rattling, cocked-tail displays of these acrobatic chickens, and even saw a bonus Greater Sage-Grouse crouched in the lek. After a filling breakfast in Steamboat Springs, we drove east over Rabbit Ears Pass into North Park. Due to some deep snow near our target Greater Sage-Grouse lek, we did some afternoon scouting, finding over a dozen sage-grouse that ended up strolling right across the road between the two vans. Lucky!
The final full day of the tour started quite early with a trip up to the lower reaches below Rabbit Ears Pass to a spot where we heard a spontaneously singing Boreal Owl. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't see this bird because he was too far off the road, but we did have a nice listen. Heading back into North Park for dawn, we were soon parked alongside a large lek of more than 50 Greater Sage-Grouse fanning their spiked tails and popping their egg-yolk colored air sacs in the sunny morning light. These huge birds courted, mated, and even fought each other while we watched in awe at close range. Incredible! The trip back to Denver was a bit of a blur after that amazing sage-grouse experience, but we did see a group of 63+ Barrow's Goldeneye on Windy Gap Reservoir, and Red Crossbills and a Williamson's Sapsucker at Genesee Park to wrap up our final afternoon.
Though we ended up driving even farther than originally anticipated due to our unexpected side trip through Kansas and Nebraska, Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour, both for the outstanding birds and the great group. Whether it was the lekking grouse, the spiffy ducks, the thousands of longspurs, or any of the varied mammals along the way, there was a lot for everyone. It was wonderful to spend time with all of you, and I hope that you had some memorable experiences during this exciting loop through Colorado (and adjacent states).
Thanks, and good birding!
Tom
KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant
BIRDS
The Greater Sage-Grouse near Coalmont put a nice bow on the set of lekking grouse for this tour. Check out that tail! Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
During a windstorm near Arriba, this Mountain Plover was hunkered down along the side of a farm road. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
When we arrived at the Greater Prairie-Chicken lek to scout it out on the evening before our dawn visit, a flock of prairie-chickens flew in from the adjacent prairie and landed on the lek, cackling all the way. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
This male Eastern Bluebird sang beautifully for the group at Bonny Reservoir in eastern Colorado. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
We made it exciting by leaving Dusky Grouse to the last possible day, but this male, strutting around in the predawn, certainly made the wait worthwhile! Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
This extremely gray Pine Grosbeak sat in the open for us at the top of Monarch Pass. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
This is about 1/4000th of the total number of McCown's Longspurs that we saw milling around agricultural fields near Arriba, Colorado. Incredible numbers! Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
This was one of two Sharp-tailed Grouse that ran right past our vans while we were watching their lek near the town of Hayden. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
This bird involved some great luck, as the weather gods weren't smiling on Loveland Pass during our visit. Our White-tailed Ptarmigan blended in perfectly with the surrounding snowy landscape. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
We were still on our way to our "Gambel's Quail spot" near Fruita when we spotted this handsome male perched up on a roadside wire. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
Good views of Golden Eagle were plentiful on this tour, especially during the last few days between Craig and North Park. This lovely bird was circling over Arapahoe NWR south of Walden. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
MAMMALS
The view from Colorado National Monument has to be seen to be believed. The power of water running over rock over millenia is amazing to ponder at this wonderful natural site. Photo by guide Tom Johnson.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Totals for the tour: 147 bird taxa and 23 mammal taxa