March 26-April 1, 2010
Richard Stevens:
Friday 26
We started at Loveland Pass (Clear Creek/Summit Counties). We scoped the eastern and western sides of the Summit; without success. As a last resort, we drove south down toward Keystone Ski Area.
At the second pullover south of the summit (and on the right/west side of hwy 6) we stopped and scoped the eastern hillside. Tador found 4 White-tailed Ptarmigan about 20 yards from the highway. There could have been additional birds; however we did not take the time to look.
Our next stop was around Silverthorne. Four Barrow's Goldeneyes were at the Blue River Water Treatment Plant (Clear Creek). It was worth checking Blue Ridge Road for Rosy Finches!
We continued to Steamboat Springs (Routt) where Sharp-tailed Grouse were missed at a friend's home. In the next two days we drove over Rabbit Ears Pass five times (all during snow storms).
Our birding day ended at Jackson County Road 26, north of highway 14. We briefly saw 2 Greater Sage-Grouse (not good views as they flew across CR 26).
On the way to the motel in Craig, we checked the 80 Route Road. Tall snow drifts at the second cattle guard prevented driving farther north to the Greater Sage-Grouse and Sharp-tailed Grouse leks.
(We met a birder on Saturday that had tried to drive farther earlier today. He had a large truck, good tires and got stuck about 200 yards farther north. It was good we decided to turn around at 10:00 pm).
Saturday 27
We decided to stay around an extra day and try again for Greater Sage-Grouse (normally, day two of my trip is spent at the 20 Road Sharp-tailed Grouse leks). This morning we enjoyed better success. Seven Greater Sage-Grouse flew across the road and started to display in the morning snow storm. Later we found another group of 6 along CR 26. Four additional grouse displayed in the front yard of the ranch built on the old Coalmont Lek (intersection of CR 26 & CR 26b.
Afterwards we hurried back to my friend's home in Steamboat Springs. This time Sharp-tailed Grouse were more cooperative and allowed us good looks. (Therefore, we skipped the 20 Road leks this trip).
A side trip to Oxbow Wildlife Area (Moffat) did not find any Sage Thrashers or Sage Sparrows. We continued to Rifle and then Cameo (Coal Canyon). No Chukars were found in an hour search.
We continued south up the Grand Mesa. At the Grand Mesa Lodge and Store we watched their platform feeders. Several Gray Jays (target birds) cooperated and visited the feeders (along with dozens of Mountain Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Steller's Jays).
After complete dark, we headed back north up the Grand Mesa. We enjoyed great fortunate and found 9 Boreal Owls (2 were observed).
Sunday 28
We drove briefly through the Colorado National Monument (only needed one target bird, Pinyon Jays). The flock of 24+ flew around the Campgrounds. Several Juniper Titmice and Bushtits were also around.
Chukars were missed up Escalante Canyon (Delta) in our 2.5 hour search. We did find a Black Phoebe along the creek near Pinnacle Rock.
At Fruitgrower's Reservoir, birding was slow. We hoped to run into someone who knew where to see a Chukar; missed that also. Five Lewis's Woodpeckers flew around the tall cottonwoods below the dam (Evelyn Horn's home).
We stopped at Pleasure Park (Delta) and again could not find Chukars.
Our birding day ended at Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park (Gunnison). We heard a Dusky Grouse along the closed road to the East Portal. Unfortunately, we never saw the bird.
Monday 29
Because we missed two target birds (Chukar, Dusky Grouse) we decided to stay in Montrose and try again today. Our 10.5 hour search at many locations was unsuccessful for Chukar.
The most interesting search was up Chukar Road (Peach Valley). It was described as a 7 mile drive down to the Gunnison River. We made it about 5 miles before running into quite muddy roads. A walk of another mile (down steep hills) did not find Dusky Grouse before we decided to turn around. The area was quite good for Pinyon Jays as we saw 3+ dozen of them.
Again we ended our birding day at Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park (Gunnison). We again heard the Dusky Grouse about 50 yards up the closed East Portal Road. Another Dusky Grouse was heard (briefly seen) east of the Visitor's Center (where road was closed). This grouse was south of the south rim drive near where the hiking trail crosses the road; marked on both sides by narrow brown trail signs).
Tuesday 30
At first light, we watched 22+ Gunnison Sage-Grouse at the Waunita Hot Springs Lek.
Because we stayed an extra day in Delta County, we came up with the idea (somewhat crazy, but not my first time) to drive to Elkhart, KS for the Lesser Prairie-Chickens and then on the Wray for a morning attempt for Greater Prairie-Chickens (a 750 mile trip today).
Obviously we had little time for birding! We looked briefly for Mountain Plover; without success. We also stopped for 30 minutes at Turk's Pond; without finding the reported "possible Eurasian Wigeon".
We arrived at the Elkhart, KS eastern Lesser Prairie-Chicken lek at sunset. Thirteen Lesser Prairie-Chicken displayed nicely from 20 yards or so.
Next, 380 mile drive to Wray.
March 31, 2010
Randall and Tador Whitman and I enjoyed another great day of birding. We started at with 10 Greater Prairie-Chickens on the Yuma County Road 45 lek!
Few birds on Jumbo Reservoir and no swallows. The only swallow of our trip was a Tree Swallow observed near the Colorado National Monument (Mesa County) on Monday.
We found 2 Mountain Plover on the green field behind the Briggsdale School. One on the second green strip from the east and one on the fourth green strip from the east.
McCown's Longspurs were found up the gravel tracks north of Weld County Roads 94 and CR 63. We could not find Chestnut-collared Longspur along CR 96 or one of their favorite fields at CR 114 and Hwy 85.
Windsor Lake was a great stop. No wind, plenty of gulls including Nick Komar's sightings of 2 Iceland Gulls, an adult Glaucous Gull, an adult Thayer's Gull, and a 1st cycle Thayer's Gull.
I made a wrong turn on the way to Lower Latham Reservoir (Weld) and we observed a Short-eared Owl standing on a metal post at the northeast corner of CR 51 and CR 50. Another Short-eared Owl was observed along CR 48 (south side of Lower Latham Reservoir).
April 1, 2010
Randall and Tador Whitman and I started our birding day at Reynolds Park (Jefferson County). At 5:00 am, we listened for Northern Pygmy-Owls at the western parking area, and then walked along the main road to the eastern parking area. Unfortunately, winds were measured at 24+ mph. Little could be heard and no Northern Pygmy-Owls.
We then hiked up the Raven's Roost Trail where Tador spotted a Dusky Grouse about 100 yards uphill/south of the old service road!
Our next target bird was an American Three-toed Woodpecker so we drove over to Pine Valley Ranch Park. On the way, two American Dippers were spotted searching for food on the South Platte River (along the Platte River Road).
We did not find any Three-toed Woodpeckers as we hiked up the Buck Gulch Trail past the Park Boundary Sign. Instead of continuing along the 6 mile loop, we decided to drive over to the Sedalia woodpecker site.
Here (10 miles south of Sedalia, park at Highway 67 and Rampart Range Road and walk east 0.2 miles), it took only 10 minutes to find a beautiful male American Three-toed Woodpecker! The hike is much less steep than Pine Valley Ranch Park and made the longer drive well worthwhile!
The American Three-toed Woodpeckers are along Highway 67 at 0.2 miles east of Rampart Range Road. This intersection is about 10 miles south of Sedalia. As far as we could determine, that area is national forest. The Indian Creek Office is at aforementioned intersection. Therefore, one can walk uphill into the woods to locate the woodpeckers.
With no target birds left for our 7 day grouse trip, we decided to drive up to Rist Canyon and look for Northern Pygmy-Owls. Along the way we stopped at watched the White-winged Crossbills at Grandview Cemetery (at around 5:00 pm).
The next 2.5 hours we drove up and down Rist Canyon. Unfortunately, we did not find any Northern Pygmy-Owls.
Richard Stevens:
Friday 26
We started at Loveland Pass (Clear Creek/Summit Counties). We scoped the eastern and western sides of the Summit; without success. As a last resort, we drove south down toward Keystone Ski Area.
At the second pullover south of the summit (and on the right/west side of hwy 6) we stopped and scoped the eastern hillside. Tador found 4 White-tailed Ptarmigan about 20 yards from the highway. There could have been additional birds; however we did not take the time to look.
Our next stop was around Silverthorne. Four Barrow's Goldeneyes were at the Blue River Water Treatment Plant (Clear Creek). It was worth checking Blue Ridge Road for Rosy Finches!
We continued to Steamboat Springs (Routt) where Sharp-tailed Grouse were missed at a friend's home. In the next two days we drove over Rabbit Ears Pass five times (all during snow storms).
Our birding day ended at Jackson County Road 26, north of highway 14. We briefly saw 2 Greater Sage-Grouse (not good views as they flew across CR 26).
On the way to the motel in Craig, we checked the 80 Route Road. Tall snow drifts at the second cattle guard prevented driving farther north to the Greater Sage-Grouse and Sharp-tailed Grouse leks.
(We met a birder on Saturday that had tried to drive farther earlier today. He had a large truck, good tires and got stuck about 200 yards farther north. It was good we decided to turn around at 10:00 pm).
Saturday 27
We decided to stay around an extra day and try again for Greater Sage-Grouse (normally, day two of my trip is spent at the 20 Road Sharp-tailed Grouse leks). This morning we enjoyed better success. Seven Greater Sage-Grouse flew across the road and started to display in the morning snow storm. Later we found another group of 6 along CR 26. Four additional grouse displayed in the front yard of the ranch built on the old Coalmont Lek (intersection of CR 26 & CR 26b.
Afterwards we hurried back to my friend's home in Steamboat Springs. This time Sharp-tailed Grouse were more cooperative and allowed us good looks. (Therefore, we skipped the 20 Road leks this trip).
A side trip to Oxbow Wildlife Area (Moffat) did not find any Sage Thrashers or Sage Sparrows. We continued to Rifle and then Cameo (Coal Canyon). No Chukars were found in an hour search.
We continued south up the Grand Mesa. At the Grand Mesa Lodge and Store we watched their platform feeders. Several Gray Jays (target birds) cooperated and visited the feeders (along with dozens of Mountain Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Steller's Jays).
After complete dark, we headed back north up the Grand Mesa. We enjoyed great fortunate and found 9 Boreal Owls (2 were observed).
Sunday 28
We drove briefly through the Colorado National Monument (only needed one target bird, Pinyon Jays). The flock of 24+ flew around the Campgrounds. Several Juniper Titmice and Bushtits were also around.
Chukars were missed up Escalante Canyon (Delta) in our 2.5 hour search. We did find a Black Phoebe along the creek near Pinnacle Rock.
At Fruitgrower's Reservoir, birding was slow. We hoped to run into someone who knew where to see a Chukar; missed that also. Five Lewis's Woodpeckers flew around the tall cottonwoods below the dam (Evelyn Horn's home).
We stopped at Pleasure Park (Delta) and again could not find Chukars.
Our birding day ended at Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park (Gunnison). We heard a Dusky Grouse along the closed road to the East Portal. Unfortunately, we never saw the bird.
Monday 29
Because we missed two target birds (Chukar, Dusky Grouse) we decided to stay in Montrose and try again today. Our 10.5 hour search at many locations was unsuccessful for Chukar.
The most interesting search was up Chukar Road (Peach Valley). It was described as a 7 mile drive down to the Gunnison River. We made it about 5 miles before running into quite muddy roads. A walk of another mile (down steep hills) did not find Dusky Grouse before we decided to turn around. The area was quite good for Pinyon Jays as we saw 3+ dozen of them.
Again we ended our birding day at Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park (Gunnison). We again heard the Dusky Grouse about 50 yards up the closed East Portal Road. Another Dusky Grouse was heard (briefly seen) east of the Visitor's Center (where road was closed). This grouse was south of the south rim drive near where the hiking trail crosses the road; marked on both sides by narrow brown trail signs).
Tuesday 30
At first light, we watched 22+ Gunnison Sage-Grouse at the Waunita Hot Springs Lek.
Because we stayed an extra day in Delta County, we came up with the idea (somewhat crazy, but not my first time) to drive to Elkhart, KS for the Lesser Prairie-Chickens and then on the Wray for a morning attempt for Greater Prairie-Chickens (a 750 mile trip today).
Obviously we had little time for birding! We looked briefly for Mountain Plover; without success. We also stopped for 30 minutes at Turk's Pond; without finding the reported "possible Eurasian Wigeon".
We arrived at the Elkhart, KS eastern Lesser Prairie-Chicken lek at sunset. Thirteen Lesser Prairie-Chicken displayed nicely from 20 yards or so.
Next, 380 mile drive to Wray.
March 31, 2010
Randall and Tador Whitman and I enjoyed another great day of birding. We started at with 10 Greater Prairie-Chickens on the Yuma County Road 45 lek!
Few birds on Jumbo Reservoir and no swallows. The only swallow of our trip was a Tree Swallow observed near the Colorado National Monument (Mesa County) on Monday.
We found 2 Mountain Plover on the green field behind the Briggsdale School. One on the second green strip from the east and one on the fourth green strip from the east.
McCown's Longspurs were found up the gravel tracks north of Weld County Roads 94 and CR 63. We could not find Chestnut-collared Longspur along CR 96 or one of their favorite fields at CR 114 and Hwy 85.
Windsor Lake was a great stop. No wind, plenty of gulls including Nick Komar's sightings of 2 Iceland Gulls, an adult Glaucous Gull, an adult Thayer's Gull, and a 1st cycle Thayer's Gull.
I made a wrong turn on the way to Lower Latham Reservoir (Weld) and we observed a Short-eared Owl standing on a metal post at the northeast corner of CR 51 and CR 50. Another Short-eared Owl was observed along CR 48 (south side of Lower Latham Reservoir).
April 1, 2010
Randall and Tador Whitman and I started our birding day at Reynolds Park (Jefferson County). At 5:00 am, we listened for Northern Pygmy-Owls at the western parking area, and then walked along the main road to the eastern parking area. Unfortunately, winds were measured at 24+ mph. Little could be heard and no Northern Pygmy-Owls.
We then hiked up the Raven's Roost Trail where Tador spotted a Dusky Grouse about 100 yards uphill/south of the old service road!
Our next target bird was an American Three-toed Woodpecker so we drove over to Pine Valley Ranch Park. On the way, two American Dippers were spotted searching for food on the South Platte River (along the Platte River Road).
We did not find any Three-toed Woodpeckers as we hiked up the Buck Gulch Trail past the Park Boundary Sign. Instead of continuing along the 6 mile loop, we decided to drive over to the Sedalia woodpecker site.
Here (10 miles south of Sedalia, park at Highway 67 and Rampart Range Road and walk east 0.2 miles), it took only 10 minutes to find a beautiful male American Three-toed Woodpecker! The hike is much less steep than Pine Valley Ranch Park and made the longer drive well worthwhile!
The American Three-toed Woodpeckers are along Highway 67 at 0.2 miles east of Rampart Range Road. This intersection is about 10 miles south of Sedalia. As far as we could determine, that area is national forest. The Indian Creek Office is at aforementioned intersection. Therefore, one can walk uphill into the woods to locate the woodpeckers.
With no target birds left for our 7 day grouse trip, we decided to drive up to Rist Canyon and look for Northern Pygmy-Owls. Along the way we stopped at watched the White-winged Crossbills at Grandview Cemetery (at around 5:00 pm).
The next 2.5 hours we drove up and down Rist Canyon. Unfortunately, we did not find any Northern Pygmy-Owls.
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