Greater Prairie-Chicken in full display, one of the natural world’s most amazing sights and sounds. Photo: Chris Wood
April is a spectacular time of year in Colorado. Late winter and early spring meet with stunningly beautiful snow-capped peaks and the first blush of green on the river-edge cottonwoods. It’s also the time when the five lekking grouse—Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater and Gunnison Sage-Grouse, and Lesser and Greater Prairie-Chickens—are engaged in their amazing foot-stomping, cackling, hooting and/or moaning displays.
Our travels to the grouse leks will involve long drives but what drives! We’ll travel along the Colorado River enshrouded by mesas, the magnificent Black Canyon of the Gunnison, through beautiful spruce-fir forests, expansive sagebrush flats and grasslands and past more than a dozen 14,000-ft. mountain peaks. We’ll look as well for a variety of resident, early-arriving or late-departing species including White-tailed Ptarmigan and Blue Grouse. Mammals will be unusually well represented too; we may see Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn, Elk, Mule and White-tailed Deer, Moose, Coyote, Red Fox and, with great luck, Bobcat or even Mountain Lion.
Day 1: The tour begins at 6 p.m. at our hotel near Denver International Airport. Night in Denver.
Day 2: We’ll depart early for the foothills outside Denver, where we may see three species of nuthatches, Mountain and Western Bluebirds and Williamson’s Sapsucker. If the weather cooperates, we’ll make our way to one of the high mountain passes and attempt to locate the difficult-to-find White-tailed Ptarmigan, still white at this season. During some years rosy-finches linger into April and occasionally we are lucky enough to see all three species. In the afternoon we’ll cross Willow Creek Pass and drop into North Park. Night in North Park.
Day 3: We’ll rise early to witness the stunning display of the largest North American grouse, Greater Sage-Grouse. As we watch the lek we’ll pay particular attention to plumage and behavioral differences between this species and the Gunnison Sage-Grouse, newly discovered and a target later on in the tour. After leaving the lek we’ll explore the nearby wetlands and sagebrush flats of North Park where Sage Thrashers might already be in residence. We might see the courtship of newly arrived Cinnamon Teal and American Avocets, and with luck we’ll find a lingering Barrow’s Goldeneye or two. In the afternoon we’ll cross Rabbit Ears Pass, stopping to listen and look for high-country species such as Pine Grosbeak and Three-toed Woodpecker. Along watercourses we’ll search for the stream-loving American Dipper. Later we’ll drive to the Yampa River Valley, which has nesting Sandhill Cranes. Night in Craig.
Day 4: We’ll depart in the pre-dawn hours for a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek, where we’ll witness the remarkable display of this foot-stomper. The surrounding meadows and valley support a wide variety of wildlife including nesting Sandhill Cranes, several raptors and many mammals. After breakfast we’ll head south through the town of Meeker, where we’ll look for Evening Grosbeak and Cassin’s Finch. In the evening, if the weather is suitable, we’ll join friends in-the-know to look for owls. Northern Saw-whet, Long-eared, Western Screech and even Boreal are possible. Night in Clifton.
Day 5: We’ll spend the morning birding the canyonlands in aptly named Mesa County, where we should see Rock and Canyon Wrens, White-throated Swift and other characteristic birds of Colorado’s dry Western Slope. We’ll also keep our eyes on the ground for Gambel’s Quail and Chukar. After lunch we’ll visit the impressive Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The scenery is spectacular, and there is no better place to find Blue Grouse and Pinyon Jay. Night in Gunnison.
Day 6: This morning we’ll visit a lek of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse. With the displays of Greater Sage-Grouse still fresh in our heads, we’ll be able to appreciate the differences that led to the recognition of this bird as a separate species. After enjoying the grouse we’ll drop into the Arkansas River Valley, where we’ll search for several species near the northern limit of their range including Scaled Quail, Curve-billed Thrasher, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Canyon Towhee. The nearby hills usually hold Juniper Titmouse and Bushtit. Pueblo Reservoir often produces a surprise or two, and a city park should provide up-close views of Wood Ducks. Night in Pueblo.
Day 7: We’ll bird our way east along the Arkansas River Valley, one of the most exciting birding areas in Colorado. Riverine cottonwoods, just beginning to show green, are oases in a sea of short-grass prairie and collect newly arrived migrants, perhaps including Say’s Phoebe or Harris’s Sparrow. The reservoirs and pools may host waterfowl and early-arriving shorebirds such as Baird’s Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, American Avocet and Long-billed Curlew. Mountain Plovers nest in small numbers in the grasslands and we’ll hope to find a pair or two. Night in Elkhart, Kansas.
Day 8: Today we will drive south into the Oklahoma Panhandle, stopping to bird several oasis and wooded patches as we wend our way west to Cottonwood Canyon, Colorado. This delightfully wooded canyon in extreme SE Colorado has hosted many rarities over the years and we will also seek the residents such as Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Greater Roadrunner, Curve-billed Thrasher and Rufous-crowned Sparrow. We will also visit the isolated sewage ponds and patches of forest around Elkhart itself, seeking out early migrant passerines and shorebirds, Long-eared and Barn Owls, and waterfowl. Night in Elkhart, Kansas.
Day 9: We’ll rise early and travel to the short-grass prairie of the Comanche National Grasslands to watch the displays of Lesser Prairie-Chicken. We’ll search the grasslands for nesting birds including Chihuahuan Raven and Long-billed Curlew and look for Burrowing Owl and Ferruginous Hawk in prairie dog colonies. As we head north we’ll stop at Two Buttes Reservoir, arguably one of the state’s most interesting migrant traps, as well as other reservoirs and isolated patches of trees that may harbor migrants. Night in Wray.
Day 10: Thanks to the help of the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Yuma County Historical Society, we’ll witness sunrise on a private ranch in the rolling hills of Yuma County overlooking a Greater Prairie-Chicken lek. After the birds have finished displaying, we’ll slowly return to Denver, stopping en route at Bonny Reservoir, in whose wooded fringe we may see species more typical of eastern North America including Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird and “Eastern” White-breasted Nuthatch. Night in Denver.
Day 11: The tour concludes this morning in Denver.
Updated: 01 May 2008
Prices
- 2009 price about $3,320
- Single Occupancy Supplement $390
Notes
This tour is limited to seven participants with one leader; 14 with two leaders. If a second leader is needed, it will be Gavin Bieber.
A superb collection of Chris Wood’s images from the 2008 tour can be seen here.