May 9-14, 2010
Another Grouse Trip, this time with Chris Ortega, Bob Tenor and myself.
May 9, Sunday
We started our trip like most of my grouse trips with a visit to Summit County. It was getting late in the season however, we did find Brown-capped Rosy Finches and 2 Gray-crowned Rosy Finches. No Black Rosy Finches (have not seen any in a couple of weeks now).
There were no Barrow's Goldeneyes in Silverthorne at either the Blue River Water Treatment Plant or Angler Mountain Pond.
We backtracked to Loveland Pass (Clear Creek) where it only took 10 minutes to find a pair of White-tailed Ptarmigan. The most successful spot this year has been the hill on the east side of Highway 6 across from the pullover 1.1 miles south of the Pass' Summit.
Our group headed north and detoured east to Windy Gap Reservoir (Grand). Fortunately, a late male Barrow's Goldeneye was still here!
As we drove north through the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge (Grand) we kept our eyes out for the Gyrfalcon that has been spotted on several occasions (however, not today).
A drive around the self auto tour did not add much to our trip list. We did see many Vesper Sparrows and a Sage Thrasher.
Walden Reservoir (Jackson) still had a couple of Marbled Godwits and 2 Willets. Many California Gulls, Eared Grebes, American White Pelicans and American Coots swam around. American Avocets were at the south end.
Our birding day ended by watching 5 Greater Sage-Grouse displaying on the lek along CR 26, north of highway 14.
May 10, Monday
At first light, we sat at the 2nd cattle guard up the 80 Route (Routt). Unfortunately, no Dusky Grouse appeared this morning. Later a drive north provided good looks at both Sharp-tailed Grouse (close to road) and Greater Sage-Grouse (quite far from the road).
A Golden Eagle flew by and the grouse hunkered down to avoid detection.
Our next stop was the Oxbow Wildlife Area (Moffat) west of Maybell. At least six Sage Sparrows came to the top of the brush in response to our recordings! Several Sage Thrashers also reacted to our recordings.
Not much was happening at the Rifle Rest Stop (Garfield) and we continued to Coal Canyon (Cameo) for a Chukar search. It has been pretty disappointing this year. Chukar have been scarce. We missed them again; I am up to 34 straight hours without a sighting.
We drove up to the Grand Mesa next. A stop at the Powderhorn Ski Area was interesting. An American Three-toed Woodpecker came out of the woods to see what the ruckus (our recordings) were causing. No Northern Pygmy-Owls unfortunately made an appearance.
Gray Jays, Mountain Chickadees and many Steller's Jays came to the platform feeder at the Grand Mesa Lodge.
After dark, we found Boreal Owls at three of the pullovers between the Visitor's Center and the Ski Area. (total of five Boreal Owls).
May 11, Tuesday
A drive through the Colorado National Monument added many birds to our trip list.
Ash-throated Flycatchers, Rock Wrens and a Canyon Wren were at the Devils Kitchen Picnic Area.
A Gray Vireo sang at the Coke Ovens Overlook.
The Campgrounds were full of birds. Over a dozen Black-throated Gray Warblers, half a dozen Juniper Titmice, a flock of 9 Pinyon Jays, Western Scrub-Jays and Steller's Jays to name some.
We gave Escalante Canyon a try for Chukar and missed them again (now up to 36 hours without a sighting). The pair of Black Phoebes was easy to see near Pinnacle Rock.
Fruitgrower's Reservoir (Delta) was slow except for resident birds (Western Grebes, Clark's Grebes, American Coots, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Cinnamon Teal, Blue-winged Teal, and dozens of swallows).
Our birding day ended at the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park (Montrose). We found a Northern Pygmy-Owl by walking to the overlook 300+ yards west of the South Rim Drive.
After sunset, six male Dusky Grouse displayed along the side of the South Rim drive. Two females came out to inspect the males.
May 12, Wednesday
At first light, we watched 13 male Gunnison Sage-Grouse display for 3 females at the Waunita Hot Springs Lek (Gunnison). The season is coming to an end; the birds departed within 15 minutes of civil twilight.
We stopped briefly at the Coaldale/Hayden Campgrounds (Fremont). A nice flock of 29 Evening Grosbeaks flew around the Coaldale Campground. A Warbling Vireo sang loudly. At the Hayden Campground, we found a pair of Pine Grosbeaks and 4 Black-headed Grosbeaks.
At Temple Canyon State Park we found Gray Flycatcher and Gray Vireo.
A stop in Canon City (Fremont) added a pair of nesting Curve-billed Thrashers at a friend's home. Usually we search up the Swallows Road at the west end of Pueblo Reservoir (Pueblo), but that was no longer necessary. We did go up the road and found two Scaled Quail at the first turn to the left.
Unfortunately, we had to skip most of the great birding spots between Canon City through Pueblo to Lamar. Our one stop was a good one. We enticed Black Rails, Soras and Virginia Rails to answer our recordings at the marshes along Bent County Road JJ (at 1.5 miles east of CR 16).
Our final location of the day was Cottonwood Canyon (Baca). On the trip in, we found Cassin's Kingbirds and Western Kingbirds along CR M, just west of CR J.
Rufous-crowned Sparrows sang at the cattle guard (which turns out to be 1.4 miles east of where CR M crosses Carrizo Creek (primitive camping area).
Mississippi Kites and Lewis's Woodpeckers were observed as we continued to the "camping area". A pair of Eastern Phoebes flew around the old cabin south of CR M (at Carrizo Creek). After dark, we found a pair of Western Screech-Owls in the same area.
May 13, Thursday
Again, up at first light, we watched 9 Lesser Prairie-Chickens dance at the Eastern Lek near Elkhart, Kansas. Later, on the road out, we saw Lark Buntings, Cassin's Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, and many Eastern & Western Kingbirds.
Back in Colorado, we found Burrowing Owls (however no Long-billed Curlews) at Baca County Road M, just west of Highway 287/385. No Mountain Plover were found at Pasture G (across from the Washington Work Center).
Birding at Two Buttes Reservoir (Baca) was good. Birds found included Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Summer Tanager, and Yellow-throated Vireo. We kicked up a nighthawk that we felt was a Lesser Nighthawk. We could not find one of the resident Barn Owls either this trip.
We checked the radio tower area 7 miles south of Lamar (Prowers) for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (none nesting here yet this year).
Lamar Community College woods was slow also. There were no unusual migrating birds. We did see a pair of Northern Cardinals and a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Could not find the Carolina Wren.
A quick stop at Bonny Reservoir (Yuma) added another Northern Cardinal (Foster's Grove area), Black-throated Green Warbler (Hopper Ponds), Baltimore Oriole (south side), Willet, Semipalmated Plover, Red-bellied Woodpecker (south side). After dark, we did hear an Eastern Screech-Owl and Common Poorwill at Hale Ponds.
May 14, Friday
At first light, we watched five Greater Prairie-Chickens display at the Yuma County 45 Road leks. No females appeared.
Later we drove over to Sandsage Wildlife Area. Both Harris's and White-throated Sparrows were found. There were plenty of Chipping, White-crowned, and Song Sparrows also.
At Jumbo Reservoir (Logan/Sedgwick), we saw a Bonaparte's Gull, Common Tern, Black-and-white Warbler, White-rumped Sandpiper, Common Loon, Marbled Godwits, Willets, and a Baltimore Oriole. Red Lion Wildlife Area added Red-necked Phalaropes to our trip list.
We had to try several locations in Weld County before finding a Mountain Plover (at a friend's ranch, Hwy 14/CR 51 spot was not successful).
Crow Valley Campground added a Plumbeous Vireo and Blackpoll Warbler to our day list. We did not spend much time searching however.
McCown's Longspurs were all over Weld CR 96. Another Mountain Plover was found at the south side of CR 96 at about 2.0 miles west of CR 77. A Swift Fox briefly came out of its den. I have seen quite a few again this spring (considering that books tell us that they do not come out during the day, quite false in my experience).
We had to drive up to CR 114 and Hwy 85 to find our Chestnut-collared Longspur. Five of them were within 100 yards of the intersection (southeast corner).
Our birding day and trip ended at Lower Latham Reservoir (Weld). No Short-eared Owls made an appearance. The American Bittern did call briefly. Half a dozen Northern Harriers hunted over the northern cattails and fields south of CR 48.
Another Grouse Trip, this time with Chris Ortega, Bob Tenor and myself.
May 9, Sunday
We started our trip like most of my grouse trips with a visit to Summit County. It was getting late in the season however, we did find Brown-capped Rosy Finches and 2 Gray-crowned Rosy Finches. No Black Rosy Finches (have not seen any in a couple of weeks now).
There were no Barrow's Goldeneyes in Silverthorne at either the Blue River Water Treatment Plant or Angler Mountain Pond.
We backtracked to Loveland Pass (Clear Creek) where it only took 10 minutes to find a pair of White-tailed Ptarmigan. The most successful spot this year has been the hill on the east side of Highway 6 across from the pullover 1.1 miles south of the Pass' Summit.
Our group headed north and detoured east to Windy Gap Reservoir (Grand). Fortunately, a late male Barrow's Goldeneye was still here!
As we drove north through the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge (Grand) we kept our eyes out for the Gyrfalcon that has been spotted on several occasions (however, not today).
A drive around the self auto tour did not add much to our trip list. We did see many Vesper Sparrows and a Sage Thrasher.
Walden Reservoir (Jackson) still had a couple of Marbled Godwits and 2 Willets. Many California Gulls, Eared Grebes, American White Pelicans and American Coots swam around. American Avocets were at the south end.
Our birding day ended by watching 5 Greater Sage-Grouse displaying on the lek along CR 26, north of highway 14.
May 10, Monday
At first light, we sat at the 2nd cattle guard up the 80 Route (Routt). Unfortunately, no Dusky Grouse appeared this morning. Later a drive north provided good looks at both Sharp-tailed Grouse (close to road) and Greater Sage-Grouse (quite far from the road).
A Golden Eagle flew by and the grouse hunkered down to avoid detection.
Our next stop was the Oxbow Wildlife Area (Moffat) west of Maybell. At least six Sage Sparrows came to the top of the brush in response to our recordings! Several Sage Thrashers also reacted to our recordings.
Not much was happening at the Rifle Rest Stop (Garfield) and we continued to Coal Canyon (Cameo) for a Chukar search. It has been pretty disappointing this year. Chukar have been scarce. We missed them again; I am up to 34 straight hours without a sighting.
We drove up to the Grand Mesa next. A stop at the Powderhorn Ski Area was interesting. An American Three-toed Woodpecker came out of the woods to see what the ruckus (our recordings) were causing. No Northern Pygmy-Owls unfortunately made an appearance.
Gray Jays, Mountain Chickadees and many Steller's Jays came to the platform feeder at the Grand Mesa Lodge.
After dark, we found Boreal Owls at three of the pullovers between the Visitor's Center and the Ski Area. (total of five Boreal Owls).
May 11, Tuesday
A drive through the Colorado National Monument added many birds to our trip list.
Ash-throated Flycatchers, Rock Wrens and a Canyon Wren were at the Devils Kitchen Picnic Area.
A Gray Vireo sang at the Coke Ovens Overlook.
The Campgrounds were full of birds. Over a dozen Black-throated Gray Warblers, half a dozen Juniper Titmice, a flock of 9 Pinyon Jays, Western Scrub-Jays and Steller's Jays to name some.
We gave Escalante Canyon a try for Chukar and missed them again (now up to 36 hours without a sighting). The pair of Black Phoebes was easy to see near Pinnacle Rock.
Fruitgrower's Reservoir (Delta) was slow except for resident birds (Western Grebes, Clark's Grebes, American Coots, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Cinnamon Teal, Blue-winged Teal, and dozens of swallows).
Our birding day ended at the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park (Montrose). We found a Northern Pygmy-Owl by walking to the overlook 300+ yards west of the South Rim Drive.
After sunset, six male Dusky Grouse displayed along the side of the South Rim drive. Two females came out to inspect the males.
May 12, Wednesday
At first light, we watched 13 male Gunnison Sage-Grouse display for 3 females at the Waunita Hot Springs Lek (Gunnison). The season is coming to an end; the birds departed within 15 minutes of civil twilight.
We stopped briefly at the Coaldale/Hayden Campgrounds (Fremont). A nice flock of 29 Evening Grosbeaks flew around the Coaldale Campground. A Warbling Vireo sang loudly. At the Hayden Campground, we found a pair of Pine Grosbeaks and 4 Black-headed Grosbeaks.
At Temple Canyon State Park we found Gray Flycatcher and Gray Vireo.
A stop in Canon City (Fremont) added a pair of nesting Curve-billed Thrashers at a friend's home. Usually we search up the Swallows Road at the west end of Pueblo Reservoir (Pueblo), but that was no longer necessary. We did go up the road and found two Scaled Quail at the first turn to the left.
Unfortunately, we had to skip most of the great birding spots between Canon City through Pueblo to Lamar. Our one stop was a good one. We enticed Black Rails, Soras and Virginia Rails to answer our recordings at the marshes along Bent County Road JJ (at 1.5 miles east of CR 16).
Our final location of the day was Cottonwood Canyon (Baca). On the trip in, we found Cassin's Kingbirds and Western Kingbirds along CR M, just west of CR J.
Rufous-crowned Sparrows sang at the cattle guard (which turns out to be 1.4 miles east of where CR M crosses Carrizo Creek (primitive camping area).
Mississippi Kites and Lewis's Woodpeckers were observed as we continued to the "camping area". A pair of Eastern Phoebes flew around the old cabin south of CR M (at Carrizo Creek). After dark, we found a pair of Western Screech-Owls in the same area.
May 13, Thursday
Again, up at first light, we watched 9 Lesser Prairie-Chickens dance at the Eastern Lek near Elkhart, Kansas. Later, on the road out, we saw Lark Buntings, Cassin's Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, and many Eastern & Western Kingbirds.
Back in Colorado, we found Burrowing Owls (however no Long-billed Curlews) at Baca County Road M, just west of Highway 287/385. No Mountain Plover were found at Pasture G (across from the Washington Work Center).
Birding at Two Buttes Reservoir (Baca) was good. Birds found included Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Summer Tanager, and Yellow-throated Vireo. We kicked up a nighthawk that we felt was a Lesser Nighthawk. We could not find one of the resident Barn Owls either this trip.
We checked the radio tower area 7 miles south of Lamar (Prowers) for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (none nesting here yet this year).
Lamar Community College woods was slow also. There were no unusual migrating birds. We did see a pair of Northern Cardinals and a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Could not find the Carolina Wren.
A quick stop at Bonny Reservoir (Yuma) added another Northern Cardinal (Foster's Grove area), Black-throated Green Warbler (Hopper Ponds), Baltimore Oriole (south side), Willet, Semipalmated Plover, Red-bellied Woodpecker (south side). After dark, we did hear an Eastern Screech-Owl and Common Poorwill at Hale Ponds.
May 14, Friday
At first light, we watched five Greater Prairie-Chickens display at the Yuma County 45 Road leks. No females appeared.
Later we drove over to Sandsage Wildlife Area. Both Harris's and White-throated Sparrows were found. There were plenty of Chipping, White-crowned, and Song Sparrows also.
At Jumbo Reservoir (Logan/Sedgwick), we saw a Bonaparte's Gull, Common Tern, Black-and-white Warbler, White-rumped Sandpiper, Common Loon, Marbled Godwits, Willets, and a Baltimore Oriole. Red Lion Wildlife Area added Red-necked Phalaropes to our trip list.
We had to try several locations in Weld County before finding a Mountain Plover (at a friend's ranch, Hwy 14/CR 51 spot was not successful).
Crow Valley Campground added a Plumbeous Vireo and Blackpoll Warbler to our day list. We did not spend much time searching however.
McCown's Longspurs were all over Weld CR 96. Another Mountain Plover was found at the south side of CR 96 at about 2.0 miles west of CR 77. A Swift Fox briefly came out of its den. I have seen quite a few again this spring (considering that books tell us that they do not come out during the day, quite false in my experience).
We had to drive up to CR 114 and Hwy 85 to find our Chestnut-collared Longspur. Five of them were within 100 yards of the intersection (southeast corner).
Our birding day and trip ended at Lower Latham Reservoir (Weld). No Short-eared Owls made an appearance. The American Bittern did call briefly. Half a dozen Northern Harriers hunted over the northern cattails and fields south of CR 48.
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