Welcome to Birdquest
COLORADO
The Ultimate 'Grousequest'
Birdquest's Colorado birding tour features one of most spectacular North American birdwatching events, the spring lekking of the prairie-chickens and other grouse. Our Colorado tour features the most comprehensive itinerary available and usually produces no fewer than seven grouse, including White-tailed Ptarmigan.
Wednesday 3rd April -
Monday 15th April 2013
(13 days)
Leaders:
to be confirmed and assistant
Group Size Limit: 12
Tour Category: Easy for the most part, occasionally Moderate
There is no grouse that epitomizes the American West in spring more than the extraordinary Greater Sage-Grouse (Mark Beaman)
Is early spring in Colorado and adjacent Kansas the most spectacular birding experience in all North America? Yes!
First explored by the Spanish in the mid-1600s, Colorado was settled by Europeans only relatively recently. The Santa Fe Trail, a major trading route across the southern part of the state, extending from St. Louis, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, was blazed in 1820 and the year 1858 saw a major gold rush. During this period the Front Range, an area of foothills on the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains, was settled and this area of Colorado, centred on Denver, remains the most populous in a relatively sparsely populated state.
Straddling the Continental Divide, Colorado is a land of superlatives. Stretching from north to south, the spectacular and awe-inspiring Rockies form the central backbone of the state. This mountainous area is three times the size of the Swiss Alps and Colorado has no fewer than 1,000 peaks over 10,000 feet (3,300 metres). Half of these are over 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) and no less than 54 peaks top 14,000 feet (4,300 metres)! With many mountains still snow-covered in the early spring, the views as one travels through Colorado are truly breathtaking, providing some great photographic opportunities. Teddy Roosevelt once said that the scenery in Colorado bankrupts the English language, and it is certainly difficult to find the words to adequately describe this extraordinarily beautiful place. To the east of the Rockies lie immense prairies and plains, a land of almost limitless vistas and vast skyscapes. To the west is a rugged landscape of lower mountains punctuated by magnificent canyons and remarkable rock formations.
In this fantastic land we will be searching for an exciting collection of avian specialities, most notably the world’s most spectacular set of grouse. Within its borders Colorado boasts no fewer than eight breeding grouse species, more than anywhere else in the world. Most of these are lekking species inhabiting the vast plains and interior basins, and we will have the opportunity to visit leks of all five such grouse. Early morning vigils at these leks provide some of the most memorable spectacles that nature has to offer in the entire North American continent.
Ours is the most comprehensive early spring tour of Colorado and southwestern Kansas available, hunting out more of the states’ specialities than any other. Indeed, we usually see seven species of grouse on our tour, almost always including White-tailed Ptarmigan! Travel around the region is generally easy, with comfortable accommodations, although there are some long drives.
Beginning in Denver, we will travel a short distance west to Georgetown in the Rocky Mountains. At the high passes, driven down to lower altitudes by winter snowstorms, endearing White-tailed Ptarmigans congregate, providing an excellent opportunity for observing this elusive species at close range in its pristine white winter plumage, while the coniferous forests hold the uncommon American Three-toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, Pine Grosbeak and Cassin’s Finch. Feeders in the Colorado Rockies attract winter and early spring concentrations of rosy-finches and Colorado is one of the best places to see all three North American species together.
Next we will travel out into the plains to Wray in northeastern Colorado in order to visit a spectacular Greater Prairie-Chicken lek. Our clockwise route around the state will then take us to the Springfield area in the extreme southeast and the Elkhart area in adjacent southwestern Kansas. Here the prairies of the Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands are inhabited by the equally fascinating Lesser Prairie-Chicken, as well as Ferruginous Hawk and Prairie Falcon, and if we are in luck we will come across Lewis’s Woodpeckers hawking insects from the treetops in one of the canyons. The wetlands of the eastern plains host many migrant waterbirds at this season and in particular large numbers of Snow Geese and smaller numbers of the rare Ross’s Goose.
Moving west to the edge of the Rockies, we will search for Scaled Quail and Curve-billed Thrasher before continuing to the Gunnison Basin where we will visit a lek of the remarkable Gunnison Sage-Grouse, one of North America’s most recently described species. Also in this area we will search for the unobtrusive and extremely confiding Dusky (or Blue) Grouse at the spectacular Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Still further west we will experience the awesome beauty of Colorado National Monument with its canyons and red rock pinnacles, and also search for Gambell's Quail, Pinyon Jay, Sage Thrasher and Sage Sparrow before heading northeast to the Steamboat Springs area. Here hyperactive Sharp-tailed Grouse gather at yet another lek site.
After an encounter with displaying Barrow’s Goldeneyes, the grand finale of our ‘Grousequest’ will be provided by the unforgettable sight of magnificent Greater Sage-Grouse lekking at close range.
Before we complete our circular route around the state we will spend some time in the Pawnee National Grasslands where Mountain Plovers and both McCown’s and Chestnut-collared Longspurs nest. Colorado is also a great place to see a wide variety of mammal species with Elk, Mule Deer, Pronghorn Antelope and Bighorn Sheep all likely to be encountered during our travels.
Birdquest has operated tours to Colorado since 2003.
(Note: The above is a summary of the tour. For more information please download the detailed, day-by-day itinerary. The button is at the top right of the page.)
Accommodation & Road Transport: The motels are of normal Birdquest standard throughout. Road transport is by minibus/passenger van or 4x4 vehicle.
Walking: The walking effort is mostly easy, but there will be some moderate grade walks and possibly one optional fairly strenuous hike.
Climate: It will vary from quite cold in the early mornings, especially in the Rocky Mountains, to relatively warm in the middle of the day, particularly on the eastern plains and in the far west. Sunshine is the norm, but there are likely to be some overcast periods, either with or without rain (or snow at high altitudes).
Bird Photography: Opportunities are quite good.
Important: As seeing the three rosy-finches and White-tailed Ptarmigan is so weather-dependent, we may have to be flexible and rearrange the tour itinerary while in Colorado in order to maximize our possibilities.
Tour Price: (provisional): $3480 Denver/Denver. Price includes all transportation, all accommodations, all meals, some drinks, all excursions, all entrance fees, all tips for local drivers/guides and for accommodations/restaurants, leader services.
Single Room Supplement: (provisional): $642.
Deposit: 10% of the tour price (excluding any single supplement).
Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency can arrange your air travel in connection with the tour from a departure point anywhere in the world, or you may arrange your own air travel if you prefer. We can tailor-make your itinerary to your personal requirements, so if you would like to travel in advance of the tour (and spend a night in an hotel so you will feel fresh when the tour starts), or return later than the end of the tour, or make a side trip to some other destination, or travel business class rather than economy, we will be happy to assist. Please contact us about your air travel requirements.
The high plains of Colorado with the Rockies in the background, just one of many spectacular views as one travels across this most scenic of states (Mark Beaman)
11 photos
View Gallery Photos From COLORADO
But is is run close by the equally amazing Greater Prairie-Chicken (Mark Beaman)
The handsome Lesser Prairie Chicken (Mark Beaman)
The foot-stamping Sharp-tailed Grouse (Mark Beaman)
The beautiful (and tame) White-tailed Ptarmigan of the high Rockies (Mark Beaman)
And the unwary Dusky (or Blue) Grouse (Mark Beaman)
Unfortunately one cannot get close enough to Gunnison Sage-Grouse at the public viewpoint to photograph them well, so we will have to make do with another view of Dusky Grouse! (Mark Beaman)
Colorado is not just about grouse, fantastic as they are. The rare and declining Mountain Plover is another star attraction (Mark Beaman)
As is McCown's Longspur (Mark Beaman)
The equally smart Chestnut-collared Longspur (Mark Beaman)
And Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, one of three species of rosy-finch possible in Colorado (Mark Beaman)
Birdquest LLC, 3721 Executive Center Drive, Suite 268, Austin, TX 78731
Ph: 512-343-1700, Fax: 512-343-1701
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