RFI- SW Colorado

[Caleb Frome]

Hi Colorado birders,

I’m a young birder from Dallas, TX, and I’ll be vacationing with my family in SW Colorado the last two weeks in June.  I’ll be staying in Mancos and taking day trips, possibly a few overnight trips as well.  I’ve been birding in Colorado before, but there are a few SW species that have evaded me that I would really like to see this time around.  The list includes:

 

Northern Goshawk

Ferruginous Hawk

Ring-necked Pheasant

Gunnison Sage-Grouse

White-tailed Ptarmigan

Virginia Rail

Owls (except Great Horned)

Common Poorwill

Lewis's Woodpecker

Williamson's Sapsucker

Sage Sparrow

Black-chinned Sparrow

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

Bobolink

Evening Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeak

Any info you guys could give on locations to find these birds would be very helpful!  I’ve been browsing CFO’s county birding site but I would appreciate real-time data as well.  I know a lot of these birds are hard to find though J

 

We’ll drive up through the TX panhandle, cut the corner of NM, and enter Colorado at Raton Pass then drive through the southern part of the state- so if some of my targets are in the eastern part of the state I might be able to stop and get them if they are near the main highway.

 

Thanks for whatever you can tell me, and good birding!

 

Caleb Frome

TX Century Club Youth Member

Dallas, TX

[Amber Carver]

I can give you tips on a few birds.  The Gunnison Sage-Grouse should be relatively easy.  They are lekking right now at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but you have to get out of your car to find them.  The rangers will be more than happy to tell you where they've been seen lately (they always tell me, "look in the campground.")  I also saw a Northern Goshawk there a couple of months ago.  I saw Lewis's Woodpeckers last week north of Rt. 62, which runs between Ridgway and Placerville.  There are Black-chinned Sparrows breeding at the Colorado National Monument (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsbn/message/6903).  Good luck, and let me know if you need anyone to show you around!

[Christian Nunes]

A grouse at a campground at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is undoubtedly a Dusky Grouse. I ran into this same problem on my first trip to Gunnison when I stopped at the tourist information center in town to ask about Gunnison Sage-Grouse. The woman on duty had no idea what that was (?!?!), but she saw some chicken-like birds crossing the road on her drive to work every morning. I followed her advice and drove all the way up to the spruce-fir zone. Hmm, I thought, this is not quite right. The next morning I had three Dusky Grouse crossing the road, just as she described. A life bird, but not the target of my desires.
 
The best way to find Gunnison Sage-Grouse away from leks is to drive dirt roads through the appropriate sage brush habitat at dawn. They often gather near water sources. The road going south out of town past the airport is a good place to start.
 
Christian Nunes
Boulder, CO
 

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Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 07:03:26 -0700
From: cara...@gmail.com
To: cob...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [cobirds] Re: RFI- SW Colorado

I can give you tips on a few birds.  The Gunnison Sage-Grouse should be relatively easy.  They are lekking right now at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but you have to get out of your car to find them.  The rangers will be more than happy to tell you where they've been seen lately (they always tell me, "look in the campground.")  I also saw a Northern Goshawk there a couple of months ago.  I saw Lewis's Woodpeckers last week north of Rt. 62, which runs between Ridgway and Placerville.  There are Black-chinned Sparrows breeding at the Colorado National Monument (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsbn/message/6903).  Good luck, and let me know if you need anyone to show you around!

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[Amber Carver]

I haven't seen any Gunnison Sage-Grouse at Black Canyon myself, because I haven't spent enough time hiking there.  My husband hikes there frequently, and he has seen many of them.  Last time he was there, he saw them displaying.  I can't tell you what trail he was on.

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Amber Carver

cara...@gmail.com

(310)483-5721