Dusky Grouse

We left our stuff in the motel room and returned to Black Canyon of the Gunnison this morning before sunrise . At 6:15am we had a male and female Dusky Grouse (photos) right along the road in almost exactly the same location where Dave Johnson and I had one four years ago. In the second photo the male was calling. You can see his puffed out upper breast. We didn't even have to leave the warmth of the car. Back to the motel to pick up our stuff.
From Montrose we headed northwest toward Grand Junction and the Colorado River.  We bypassed the town and climbed the steep escarpment which is the rim of Colorado National Monument, a place I had passed several times but never gotten off the highway to visit.  When we topped the rim, we drove to the campground which had a relatively level piece of pinon/juniper habitat.  We hadn't birded long before we heard the call of a Pinyon Jay, one of the birds we were after.  We chased it down, and I took its picture (photo).  We also saw several Juniper Titmice, one of two species recently formed by the split of Plain Titmouse.  We took the drive along the rim with Peregrine Falcon being the best bird.  There were lots of White-throated Swifts dueting and chittering and examining possible nesting crevices in the cliffs.  The view from the rim is spectacular.  At one point we moved away from the rim onto the top of the mesa where we looked amid the sage for Brewer's Sparrows.  It was clear they have not yet arrived.

After a coffee and a scone in Grand Junction, we jumped onto I-70 and followed the Colorado River east.  We encountered workmen conducting what was referred in the signage as "scaling," a process we weren't familiar with.  Apparently it involves removing stone from the cliff face that the workers felt might soon fall on the highway.  Interesting.  Along the way we saw an Osprey on a nest and a Golden Eagle.

At Rifle we left the interstate and headed north to a reservoir that had a Common Loon and a bunch of Western Grebes.  The nearby state park had a neat triple waterfall but not the hoped-for American Dipper.  We drove further north through Craig and east to Hayden where we scouted the area of a sage-grouse lek.  Unfortunately the snow had made the road impassable, so we had to walk in.  I think we have it ready for an earlier try tomorrow.  We then went to an area that supposedly has a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek.  There were no grouse there, but we'll give it the early morning look tomorrow.  There were no motels in Hayden, so we went back to Craig where we had dinner and got a motel with an interesting second floor room above the office.  Another early morning tomorrow.  But today we added three year birds giving me 447 for the year.

Gunnison Sage Grouse

The alarm went off at 4:45am.  Those lekking chickens require you to be in place well before sunrise, hence the early start.  We drove to the lek where all but one of the parking slots were full and we took that one.  One more vehicle came and squeezed into half a space.  We were required to stay in our cars and be quiet.  It was a long wait before we could see anything.  But then at quite a distance were a bunch of male Gunnison Sage Grouse inflating their breast pouches and strutting around throwing their famous pompadour over their backs in the process.  In the area were females who all looked like they could care less.  This process went on for about two hours.  At its peak I counted 19 males and 14 females.  As the females drifted or flew away the male activity declined and one by one each of them flew off.  However, there was one female who hung around and kept a male doing his thing for at least a half-hour longer than the others.  When she left, it was over. 
We drove back to the motel, had breakfast, packed up and headed for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  There we searched for Dusky Grouse without success.  It got very cold, snowed a bit, and then the wind came up.  But we did find a Townsend's Solitaire which was a new bird for the year.  We drove to Montrose and had lunch.  The less said about lunch, the better.  After lunch, since I had never seen Ouray, we spent the afternoon driving there and up to Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet.  Nothing new except the sightseeing.  Snowy mountains all around.  Beautiful.  We did see one large flock of Vesper Sparrows indicating they are definitely on the move.
Back to Montrose where we got a motel, cleaned up, went to a Nepalese/Indian restaurant which was satifactory.  With the two new birds today the total is now 444.

The Last Rosy-Finch

When it got light outside, we changed the flat tire in the motel parkign lot and were able to get the flat tire fixed quickly. In fact we were on the road before 8am. Pretty amazing. And the repair place only charged us $8 and that included re-installing the tire and putting the spare back under the car. Between Lamar and Pueblo CO are a series of ponds and reservoirs, a consequence of being in the Arkansas River drainage. We investigated two of them: Adobe Creek Reservoir and Cheraw Lake. There were plenty of ducks at the first plus some American White Pelicans and a couple of Clark's Grebes. At the second I counted 14 Snowy Plovers and there were Americna Avocets and Black-necked Stilts. But it was the Pectoral Sandpiper that was new for the year.

After a chili relleno combo plate for lunch, we headed toward the mountains with a stop on the way to visit the Royal Gorge Bridge (photo), something I've always wanted to see and always driven past. It was a make-work project constructed at the beginning of the Great Depression, but it never was included in any real transportation system. It was and still is a tourist attraction. Royal Gorge itself is spectacular and passenger trains travel the tracks at the bottom. There were many White-throated Swifts flying around above and a Peregrine Falcon looking for a dinner. From Royal Gorge it was westward and upward over Monarch Pass at 11,319 feet. On the way to Gunnison we stopped to see if any Gunnison Sage-Grouse were on the lek. None were, so we motored on to Crested Butte where four years ago I had seen hundreds of rosy-finches eating scattered birdseed on the snow. This year, however, the lady who had fed them in the past didn't do it. So John and I cruised the town looking for other feeders. We found a couple and above one of them in a set of aspens were a Black Rosy-Finch and six Brown-capped Rosy-Finches, thus completing the trio for the year list (web photo).

Tomorrow we go to the Gunnison Sage-Grouse lek an hour before dawn to await the dancing performance. The two new year birds today bring the list to 442.

Rosy-Finches and Prairie-Chickens (more or Lesser)

We got to Beverly's house in La Veta, Colorado about 6:30am having picked up breakfast at the truck stop next to our motel, it being the only available food source in Walsenburg that was open early on a Sunday morning. After we were invited in to her viewing room, she graciously fixed me a fresh cup of coffee while we waited. We didn't have to wait long for the birds to start arriving. Two Grey-crowned and a Black Rosy-Finch came to a feeder just below her window (photos). The bunch of Evening Grosbeaks that followed was a treat for us Virginians who haven't seen the likes of such abundance in decades. A pair of Cassin's Finches rounded out the new year birds. Other birds appearing included magpies, redwings, Brown-headed Cowbirds, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinches. We went with Beverly to look at the feeders of her friends where Pinyon Jays had been coming. But the nephew who was supposed to keep the feeders stocked in their absence had been shirking his duties. There were no birds. We dropped Beverly off at her house with a big thank you and set off up the road to Cuchara Pass. There were many Northern (red-shafted) Flickers, Red-naped Sapsuckers drumming, Mountain Chickadees, American Robins, some Mountain Bluebirds and several flavors of juncos. We stopped for lunch in Valdez where we had a couple of sandwiches and shared a dish of real French fries. On through Trinidad and out onto the eastern plains where we took gravel roads to reach Cottonwood Canyon state wildlife area. In transit we spotted a nest of a Great Horned Owl with three young and a Swainson's Hawk. At the wildlife area we had Canyon and Bewick's Wren, Spotted Towhee, Eastern Phoebes, and a Lewis's Woodpecker, a nice mix of East and West. Then more gravel roads with large numbers of Horned Larks and smaller numbers of Western Meadowlarks and Vesper Sparrows. We finally reached our destination, Elkhart KS, but decided to go check out the prairie-chicken lek during daylight. The website directions made finding the site relatively easy. At the lek we got out of the car to check out the blind which we would use tomorrow. John heard a call and then saw a couple of Lesser Prairie-Chickens. We went into the blind, but something soon spooked them and they flew off. I counted 28 birds. We had sufficiently good looks that we decided to drive back toward our next destination rather than overnight in Elkhart. So I drove to Lamar CO where we got a motel for the night. While getting our stuff out of the back of the car, John noticed that one of the tires was low. We'll have to get it fixed tomorrow. At least it won't be Sunday then. The five new birds brings the year list total to 440.

We're in Colorado

The flight really wasn't too bad. The airline did change my flight so I had to leave two hours earlier but still arrived in Denver at the same time. In Atlanta I did get my cup of Starbucks and a scone. Arrived in Denver half and hour ahead of John and went to the car rental place and signed out the car only to realize that I needed to have John sign on as an extra driver which he did when he arrived later. We then hit the road, immediately adding Black-billed Magpie to the year's list, and headed south turning off on the road to Sedalia. Above that town is an area which is infested with bark beetles which killed the trees leaving a ton of excellent feeding grounds for American Three-Toed Woodpeckers. After a small hill climb we found a female working diligently on several trees (photo). She was completely oblivious to our presence. There were also some American Robins, Dark-eyed Juncos (gray-headed), and Northern Flickers (red-shafted). Steller's Jays and Mountain Chickadees were scolding us. Returning to the interestate we ended up in a five-mile long backup because of an accident. Eventually we got past it and when we got to Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy, we found a Chinese restaurant and ate dinner there before continuing on to Walsenburg where we got a motel room. Tomorrow we head to La Veta which is not far away to see if the rosy-finches and friends are still visiting a feeder there. The year list total is now 435.

Tomorrow.....Colorado

I was going to be in the Great Dismal Swamp today, but I really didn't get enough done for the impending trip.  So I stayed home and it paid off.  I'm in good shape now for my early morning flight to Denver.  In fact I'm soooo prepared that I'm going to dinner and a movie tonight with Joyce.  My original flight was to have left Norfolk about 9am, a quite reasonable time.  Now I leave at 7am with no net gain in getting to Denver.  I just have a longer layover in Atlanta.  With my WiFi, though, I can check out the web and emails as I wait.  I've already checked in for the flight online and told them I'll be bringing a bag.  When I get to the airport, I just go to the baggage line, scan an ID card, get my baggage claim check and head to the gate.  It's a bit easier, but the security line is now the bottleneck. I suspect there will be time for me to stop by Starbucks for an early cup of coffee.

Errands

Ran a few errands today, trying to get ready for the trip to Colorado.  Bought a new rechargeable Q-beam spotlight to replace my old one that just can't seem to keep its charge.  Also got a replacement set of mini-speakers for my iPod.  I'm not sure where my previous set was lost, but that it was.  I won't say that losing things on a big year is inevitable, but it seems to be that way in my case.  That's why they have Radio Shacks.  I also stoked up on granola bars, a mainstay for my trips over the past decade.  They tide me over between food stops.  I also eat them on airplanes instead of paying for a less than adequate meal service.  After the errand run, I did watch the Cards lose 2-1 to the Reds on a walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth.  The good news is that Brad Penny pitched well in his first start for the Cards.  It's a long way to October.
   In checking out the latest news from the Colorado RBAs I find that I'll probably change my intended itinerary a bit.  But that's all part of the game.  In fact I won't know which of two initial sites I'll head for until I get to Denver and call to find out whether the Rosy-Finches came in that morning.  Yes, it's getting exciting.