Colorado Grouse

North American grouse species are among the most difficult order of birds to see in North America. They are large birds but because of their status as upland game birds, they have learned to avoid humans and adopt stealthy behaviors. Their plumage allows them to blend into their surroundings perfectly.  

    

To see all 27 species in the order Galliformes, which includes typical grouse, pheasants and quail, I will need to visit Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Minnesota and Nevada. However, the largest number of these species can be found in Colorado because of this state’s centralized position on the North American continent. 

In fact, Colorado in April has long been a popular birding destination among birders keen on adding many of the Galliformes (up to 13 species) to their life list in one trip. During the spring mating season, many of the grouse species form social leks where males dance and strut and generally show off for females which gather to select a suitable mate to fertilize their eggs. Most of the major birding tour companies offer a Colorado Grouse tour also known as a “chicken run.” My first professional gig as a birding tour guide was leading one of these 2000-mile 7-night van tours in 2004. Bob O’dear had two tours scheduled back-to-back for his target birding company ObservTours, and had become Ill with flu-like symptoms after the first tour. He called the American Birding Association headquarters in Colorado Springs and Chuck Bell, ABA’s travel director, recommended me as a replacement guide. I led 5 of these tours over the next three years before starting my own company, Quetzal Tours. 

Fast forward to April 2023. I had two tours scheduled both of which were rescheduled tours that had been canceled in 2020 when the COVID pandemic caused all Colorado tourism to be put on hold. The first tour was a photographer from Thailand. We spent 6 days together April 5-10. Then I guided a group of 6 birding clients mostly from England, April 12-20. During these two gigs, I added Clark’s Nutcracker (530) and Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (531) at Scott Rashid’s feeder in Estes Park on April 5; Mountain Plover (532) and Thick-billed Longspur (533) at the Pawnee National Grassland on April 6. I added Greater Sage-grouse (534) at North Park, April 9. On April 12, I added Chestnut-collared Longspur (535) from the Pawnee NG. The next day, my group visited the Nature Conservancy’s Smokey Valley Ranch in western Kansas where local guide Jim Millensifer showed us Lesser Prairie-Chicken (536) at a lek site. Nearby in Oakley, KS, I added Baird’s Sandpiper (537), a northbound migrant. The following morning, April 14, I added White-tailed Ptarmigan (538), a grouse species found above tree line, from Loveland Pass west of Denver. The elevation here is 12,000 feet. Unlike the other grouse species, the ptarmigan have a snow-white winter plumage to blend in with their snowy surroundings. The next day, en route to Craig in Northwest Colorado, I would pick up Barrow’s Goldeneye (539) at Windy Gap Reservoir, a migrating Gray Flycatcher (540) in Steamboat Springs, and Sharp-tailed Grouse (541) at an evening lek site north of Milner, Colorado. On April 17, I picked up Chukar (542), an introduced species originally from North Africa, and a migrating Virginia’s Warbler (543) at Coal Canyon in Cameo, Colorado. The same day I added Gray Vireo (544) singing on territory at Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction. At dusk, we visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but could not find Dusky Grouse at their usual booming grounds along the south rim of the spectacular canyon. As a consolation, however, we were serenaded by the eerie hooting of a Long-eared Owl after sunset. The next morning we returned to the beautiful canyon for a second attempt to find the dusky grouse here. The scurrying mountain cottontails got us excited on several occasions. But alas, no grouse!

April 19 was our day to use the Waunita Springs blind (the Brits in our group called it a “hide”) to observe the lek for the threatened Gunnison Sage-grouse (545). It was a relatively warm morning 30 miles east of Gunnison, Colorado, with no wind and some clouds but no precipitation. The grouse put on a great show for us with 38 males dancing for 9 females. This was the most birds I had ever seen at this lek which is a good sign for the population which reached a low of only 2000 birds remaining last year. The Sisk-a-dee organization volunteer (a graduate student in ecology at Western Colorado University named Kate) told us the population this year appears to have doubled. 

After the successful lek visit we headed north from Gunnison to look for Rosy-Finches at feeders around the Crested Butte ski resort. By spring, these montane finches have retreated into the high alpine forests, but storms bring them back to backyard feeding stations in mountain towns all over western Colorado. Snowflakes were falling so we hoped for a large flock that might contain small numbers of wintering Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-Finches. However, only 4 Brown-capped Rosy-Finches showed up. 

A few hours later we encountered a stronger snow squall and a feeder in Nathrop, Colorado, with about a hundred Brown-caps but again no Gray-crowned or Black Rosy-Finches today. These might have to wait until next December to get added to my Big Year list unless I can find them during the breeding season in Alaska and the Great Basin, respectively. In Nathrop, we also encountered Pinyon Jays, a highly sought target for the Brits. 

April 20 was the final day of the grouse tour. We spent the night of April 19 in Pueblo West, Colorado. We got an early start hoping for another shot at Dusky Grouse on highway 78 west of Beulah, Colorado, in the San Isabel National Forest. The habitat looked perfect but still no grouse. Consolation prizes here included stunning views of three target species for our group: American Three-toed Woodpecker, Williamson’s Sapsucker and Northern Pygmy-Owl. 

After checking out of our hotel in Pueblo West, finding Scaled Quail (546) was a cinch. There they were, hiding underneath the first ornamental cholla cactus that we could find in the residential town. The final birding stop of the tour at Pueblo Reservoir State Park provided numerous new birds and allowed us to surpass my goal of 150 trip species. Highlights here were all three phoebe species, all five swallow species including Bank Swallow (547), singing Bewick’s Wren and breeding plumage Western Sandpiper and Bonaparte’s Gull. For the complete list of birds on this tour see the eBird trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/120124. 

So how am I doing relative to other Big Year birders? For the ABA Area and ABA Continental and Lower 48 competitions, I have 479 species, which is ranked in eBird 5th in all three. My next adventure is a 4-day repositioning cruise from San Diego to Vancouver, April 24-27 which should net me a horde of Pacific Ocean pelagic species for my Big Year. Then I will be looking for spring Central Flyway migrants in Texas April 29-May 4 and Atlantic Flyway migrants in Florida May 6-12.