BIRDING ABROAD IN COLORADO, USA

9 to 19 APRIL 2018

TOUR DESCRIPTION: For most UK birders a visit to North America usually involves one of the great migration hot spots such as Point Pelee, High Island, or Cape May, where ‘wood- warblers’ are the prime focus. Wonderful of course this is, but North America has so much more to offer and on this trip we explore one of the great mid-West states – Colorado. We do so at a time of year, early spring, when the Rockies and eastern prairies are bursting into life so we are sure to enjoy some amazing bird watching and wildlife. For those with an interest in ‘how the west was won’ there is plenty of history on offer in the various places we visit.

Colorado is the best state in which to see a variety of the North American grouse species at their spring leks. Our tour itinerary includes visits to several of these leks, where we will be up close to the birds to witness their marvellous displays – quite spellbinding in fact and an experience never to be forgotten.

We will visit the splendid high tundra of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, the majestic wilderness of vast inter-mountain valleys, mountain spruce-fir forests, the eastern prairies and grasslands with their vast ‘big-sky’ vistas, huge wetlands and wide riparian valleys, as well as the softer sagebrush and ‘pinyon/juniper’ woodland which typifies the central/south section of the state. The scenery alone in this state is simply breath-taking.

Our trip coincides with the annual northward, mass migration of wildfowl. In addition we have opportunities to see a good selection of raptors, woodpeckers, the first arriving waders, forest birds, sparrows, longspurs, and a possibility of all three species of rosy-finch found in the USA. For just ten days in Colorado we cram a lot in, but there is little dashing from place to place on this trip. The spring days produce many hours of daylight and so there is plenty of time for us to pause a while in each part of the state and take in its magnificent beauty as well as absorb and enjoy its wonderful birds and wildlife. PHOTOGRPAHIC OPPORTUNITIES: Excellent, including some time spent observing from hides where we are close to the birds.

Downy Woodpecker – one of several woodpecker species we see on our tour

BIRD LIST: Expect a trip list of around 170 species, with highlights being; American Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Scaled Quail, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater Prairie- Chicken, both Greater and Gunnison Sage Grouses, Wild Turkey, Common Loon, grebes (Slavonian, Western, Clark’s and Pied-billed), American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, , Northern Harrier, both Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, , buteo hawks (Ferruginous, Rough- legged, Red-tailed and Swainson’s), American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Mountain Plover, Killdeer, American Avocet, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Curlew, Long-billed Dowitcher, gulls (, Franklin’s, Ring-billed and Bonaparte’s), Great Horned and Burrowing Owls, Belted Kingfisher, woodpeckers (Lewis’s, Red-headed, Downy, Hairy, Three-toed, Northern Flicker), Williamson’s and Red-naped Sapsucker, Prairie Falcon, American Kestrel, Black and Say’s Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, jays (Steller’s, Blue, Western Scrub-Jay, Pinyon and Gray), Clark’s Nutcracker, Horned Lark, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow, both Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees, Bushtit, Red-breasted, White-headed and Pygmy Nuthatches, Bewick’s and Rock Wrens, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, American Dipper, Townsend’s Solitaire, bluebirds (Mountain, Western and Eastern), American Robin, Curve-billed and Sage Thrashers, American Pipit, McCown’s and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, Yellow- rumped Warbler, Spotted and Canyon Towhee, sparrows (Rufous-crowned, Brewer’s, Chipping, White-crowned, Savannah, Vesper, Song, Fox, Lark and Lincoln’s), Dark-eyed Junco (various forms), Lark Bunting, Brewer’s Blackbird, Common and Great-tailed Grackle, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Cassin’s Finch, Pine Siskin, American and Lesser Goldfinches and rosy-finches ( Gray-crowned, Brown-capped and Black). Please note that Lesser Prairie-Chicken is no longer viewable to touring groups in Colorado.

Gray-crowned Rosy-finch – we could encounter all three North American rosy-finches species

MAMMALS: Well represented and we may see Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn (a type of antelope, said to be the second fastest land mammal in the world after the Cheetah), Moose (or Elk as it is known in Europe), White-tailed and , , Red Fox, Ord’s Kangaroo Rat, Least Chipmunk, Wyoming Ground Squirrel, Mountain and Desert Cottontails, Muskrat and several species of prairie dog. We would need more than our fair share of luck to see a or even a Mountain Lion (but both have been seen by birding groups touring Colorado at this time of year!).

EASE AND PACE: The tour covers over half of this massive state, so we must be on the move each day. As such, most afternoons will involve some driving to reach our next destination. The drives will allow for some well earned ‘cat-napping’ or simply admiring the stunning views. We will break the journeys with refreshment and comfort stops and of course pausing regularly for birding along the way. To be ready and in place to enjoy the grouse leks, there is no choice but to be up early, pre-dawn in fact (04:30-05:00), but we will return to our hotel in good time for breakfast. Any walks we make are short and easy going. Colorado is a high altitude state and some participants may feel slight effects of altitude before adjusting quickly during the first day or so. Keeping hydrated and taking it easy are the best means to combat the symptoms. Insects will not be a problem at this time of year.

ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD: Accommodation will be in twin-bed en-suite rooms in motels of a good standard allowing us to be in the best location for the next day’s birding. Breakfast will either be in the motel or at a cafe nearby. During the day, we will stop for a lunchtime coffee and snack breaks at roadside eateries found along our route. Evening meals will be taken at restaurants close to our motel. For this trip the price includes breakfast, but excludes day time and evening meals and drinks giving us the greater flexibility needed for our meal stops. We estimate that £30 per person per day should be adequate for all lunchtime and evening meals and drinks.

WEATHER: Mid-April tends to bring a mix of weather in Colorado. Whilst it can be very calm and stable most of the time, we should expect at some stage to encounter short periods of stormy weather with high winds, rain, blizzards and even a dust storms. There is a saying in Colorado, that if the weather seems bad, wait an hour and it will be glorious. Temperatures vary during the day, from very cold early mornings, to sunny and even quite warm ‘T-shirt’ afternoons. So clothing should reflect the variations likely to be encountered. Being able to ‘layer up and down’ is key to staying comfortable.

PRICE: The cost of the trip is £1900 per person, to include all travel in the state (by people carrier driven by your Birding Abroad tour leaders), accommodation in comfortable twin-bed en-suite rooms in motels of a good standard, with breakfast included, and entry fees to state parks and grouse leks. Not included are return flights from UK to Denver, lunch time and evening meals and drinks (see above) and any restaurant tips.

USA VISA REQUIREMENT: Those joining the tour will be expected to apply for the US ESTA entry requirement, costing £14, which can be done on-line once bookings are confirmed. We will issue guidance about this very straightforward procedure at a later date.

GROUP SIZE: the tour will be considered viable with a minimum of 5 participants plus a Birding Abroad leader. We will have a maximum of 8 persons per vehicle.

White-tailed Ptarmigan in the snow – a much sought after inhabitant of the high Rocky Mountain passes

ITINERARY (the dates shown are preliminary for 2018, subject to flight time changes).

Day 1 – April 9: Morning flight from UK to Denver, arriving late afternoon after which we collect our hire vehicles and drive west to Georgetown in the Rockies for our first overnight motel stop.

Day 2 – April 10: After breakfast at 7:00 we spend the morning exploring the environs of Georgetown and nearby Loveland Pass. Here we search for the White-tailed Ptarmigan, likely to be superbly camouflaged in the snow above the tree line. Typical forest birds will include Steller’s Jay, Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Pine Siskin. A visit to one of the feeders in a nearby mountain village could produce rosy-finches - all three species found in the USA are regularly seen here, as well as Clark’s Nutcracker and Pygmy Nuthatch. We then drive north stopping at a roadside reservoir for a variety of wildfowl including both Barrow’s and Common Goldeneye side by side. Lunch will be taken in the picturesque town of Kremmling, before we move on north-westwards to the inter-mountain wilderness known as North Park and the town of Craig for our evening meal and overnight stop. Short stops en-route will allow us to look for Gray Jay, and other raptors, Cassin’s Finch and the various forms of Dark-eyed Junco. Overnight motel in Craig.

Day 3 – April 11: We rise early and visit our first lek, that of the Sharp-tailed Grouse, where we will be entertained by the most comical of the grouse - the synchronised clockwork movements of the males appear to be controlled by some invisible remote stop-start button.

Sharp-tailed Grouse – the males perform their displays as we watch from close by

We will return for breakfast, and then explore the vast open expanses of the river valleys in this area which hold breeding Sandhill Cranes, the pairs being newly arrived and already displaying. The wilderness here holds Rough-legged Hawks, and we should come across newly arrived Franklin’s and Bonaparte’s Gulls as they follow the river valleys north. Clearings at the forest edge may produce a chance encounter with Pine and Evening Grosbeaks. Our route through the day will take us back eastwards through Steamboat Springs, where we will have some lunch, and then over the Rabbit Ears Pass, birding en- route. We then drive on to Walden for our evening meal and overnight hotel stop.

Day 4 – April 12: We rise early again for the second of our lek displays, this time of the Greater Sage Grouse. The males are large ‘bustard-sized’ birds who put on an amazing display, using their inflated chest air sacs to produce an array of strange sounds, obviously attractive to the groups of smaller female birds which sit together watching intently. We will be up close alongside the birds, an experience not to be forgotten. After a hearty breakfast at a terrific cafe next to our hotel, we will explore more of the North Park wilderness area, which just over 150 years ago was the haunt of the largest buffalo herds in the whole of North America. The area attracted famous ‘wild west’ names such as Buffalo Bill and Kit Carson, hunters, miners and prospectors, but sadly both the massive buffalo herds and the native Indians (here the Ute and Apache tribes) have both gone as land settlement by Europeans took over. We will visit the nearby Arapaho wildfowl refuge, where a variety of duck species should include both Redhead and Canvasback as well as Lesser Scaup, Ring- necked Duck, Blue-winged, Cinnamon and Green-winged Teal and American Wigeon. Waterside margins hold Wilson’s Snipe, a recent split from the Common Snipe back home. We will keep a watchful eye skywards for dashing Prairie Falcons, gliding Northern Harriers, hovering Rough-legged Hawks and soaring Golden and Bald Eagles. Fence posts attract singing Western Meadowlarks every few hundred metres. By early afternoon we will set off for a drive of some three hours eastwards, alongside the Cache la Poudre River and through the Roosevelt National Forest, broken with a stop at the Moose Visitor Centre which has some excellent feeders to attract mountain and forest birds. Our hotel for the night is near Fort Collins.

Greater Sage Grouse – largest of the grouse in north America they inflate their air sacs during display

Day 5 – April 13: A well earned leisurely start to the day, with breakfast at 7:30 before we set off pausing briefly at a small roadside lake where grebes including Slavonian, Black- necked, Pied-billed, Western and the rare Clark’s are regularly found. Fields in this area can sometimes host small groups of geese including Cackling, Snow, Ross’s and Greater White- fronted, remnants of the much larger numbers which will have moved off north in the weeks preceding our visit. Our main venue today is the famous Pawnee National Grasslands where we explore this special, protected area from our vehicles stopping regularly for track-side views of the birds. Short walks over the grassland should produce good views of McCown’s Longspurs and possibly the scarcer Chestnut-collared Longspur.

McCown’s Longspur – a close relative of Lapland Bunting and quite common on the Pawnee National Grasslands.

Prairie-dog ‘towns’, a network of burrows connecting the colony, are a feature of this area, and attract hungry Swainson’s and Ferruginous Hawks. We should encounter several species of sparrow, including White-crowned, Chipping, Savannah and Vesper, as well as early migrants and late wintering birds such as Townsend’s Solitaire in the shelter of the old campground near Brigsdale. By mid-afternoon we will have to push on towards the eastern flank of the state, a drive of some two and half hours broken with a cafe stop and then check-in at our motel in Wray. At the local museum we will attend a presentation on the conservation programme to protect the Greater Prairie-Chicken, which also gives an opportunity to look around the museum’s other fascinating exhibits featuring the lives of early European settlers and ancient native Americans. Overnight motel in Wray.

Day 6 – April 14: This morning we will be up early to visit the lek of the Greater Prairie- Chicken, described in native Indian mythology as the bird which taught all the other animals how to dance. The foot stomping rituals and the sounds made by these birds are quite remarkable and we will be close to them as the sun rises and they perform their displays. There is something quite spell-binding about this species’ behaviour and the setting produces a very evocative experience, a sense of connection to a once much more ancient North America. After returning for a well deserved hot breakfast at a local ranch, we will continue southwards stopping regularly. The walls of the dam at Bonny State Reservoir provide suitable habitat for Rock Wrens and afford a nice vantage point to see displaying Northern Harriers and Wilson’s Snipes. Many species of birds will be moving north, so we will stop to look at a variety of habitats. We can expect Cliff Swallows, Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern Phoebe and where there are some pools Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Long- billed Dowitchers. Greater Prairie-Chicken at a lek – native Indian mythology says this species taught all other animals how to dance

With luck we may come across Long-billed Curlew, another declining species which breeds here on the prairies. For those with an interest in ‘how the west was won’, we will drop by Beecher Island, site of a famous battle ground between an alliance of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and the US Army which had been recently unified after the end of the Civil War. The battle here in 1868 was one of several turning points which eventually saw the native Indians lose their lands. The history is complex though and just making our journey across this region with its wonderful ‘big-sky’ vistas is extremely thought provoking. Our overnight stop will be at a motel in Las Animas in the Arkansas River valley.

Bald Eagle – the national bird and emblem of the USA, we should see several during our tour of Colorado

Day 7 – April 15: After breakfast at 7:30 we set off and explore a variety of habitats in the south-east of the state. Reservoirs and wetlands in the Arkansas River valley host Double- crested Cormorants, American White Pelican, grebes including Western, Clark’s and Pied- billed, wildfowl and gulls. The dry south-eastern plains are the main stronghold for Loggerhead Shrike and Chihuahua Raven and we may catch the first returning Lark Buntings (Colorado’s national bird) and Lark Sparrows of the spring. Here in the southern part of the state, the riverside cottontail trees will be showing their first green shoots of spring and they often attract the early passage warblers, whilst there are always a few woodpeckers (particularly Northern Flickers) on show. East of Pueblo we will visit a high plateau for the rare and quite lovely Mountain Plover, whilst both Sage and Curve-billed Thrashers breed nearby occupying patches of low scrub. Scaled Quail might suddenly appear on top of a sand hill and the first returning Burrowing Owls will be present, having taken over one of the prairie-dog burrows. Horned Larks are abundant and we will soon give up trying to count them. Today is a leisurely day, and we have time to explore the whole area before checking in to our motel near Pueblo.

Mountain Plover – scarce and declining, we visit their breeding grounds

Day 8 – April 16: Following breakfast at 7:30 we then drive westwards making stops at open water courses where northward moving Franklin’s Gulls and Forster’s Terns often pause their migration. A dry rocky canyon will be the next stop, where we will seek out Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Canyon Towhees and Rufous-crowned Sparrows and watch overhead for White-throated Swifts. Riparian woodland hosts Ruby-crowned Kinglets, still to return to their higher altitude breeding forests, and local farmsteads provide habitat for newly arrived Great-tailed Grackles and a variety of sparrow species. We will traverse the Monarch Pass today, one of several places on this tour where we cross the continental divide with opportunities to consolidate on our views of the high altitude forest species, which may include three ‘accipiters’ (Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk and Northern Goshawk) and Clark’s Nutcracker. By late afternoon we reach quiet township of Gunnison where our hotel awaits.

Pronghorn – one of several interesting mammal species to be seen on this trip

Mountain Bluebird – simply stunning in the meadows

Day 9 – April 17: for those that wish to get up early one more time, we have the chance to visit one last lek, that of the recently described Gunnison Sage Grouse, found only here in the southern part of Colorado and in neighbouring Utah. Otherwise, we will take breakfast at 8:30 before exploring a nice patchwork of habitats around this remote town. Several hundred Sandhill Cranes stop off in fields around here on their journey northwards. We may see the nest of a with an adult in attendance. Yellow-headed Blackbirds will be in mixed flocks with their Red-winged relatives, whilst other icterids will include Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackle and Brewer’s Blackbirds. The river is frequented by American Dippers and Belted Kingfishers flying noisily up and down and Black Phoebe are sometimes seen fly-catching over the water’s surface. A residential feeder sometimes hosts rosy- finches, though Cassin’s Finches are more regular. By lunchtime we must move on through juniper-pine (called “J/P” here) and mesa scrub around Buena Vista where Pinyon Jay, Lewis’s Woodpecker and Bushtit are possibilities. We will pass through Leadville, a famous old mining town, before reaching Georgetown. Here we spend our last night of the trip, concluding with a final meal together, no doubt accompanied with a drink or two as we reflect on the magnificence of the state we have just traversed and the truly wonderful birding en-route. Overnight motel in Georgetown.

Day 10 – April 18: After a post breakfast look around the quaint little mountain village of Georgetown we have time, if required, to check out Loveland Pass again for White-tailed Ptarmigan. As we descend from the Rockies we call at a known site for Williamson’s Sapsucker before heading for Barr Lake close to Denver. Here we will have lunch and spend a couple of hours at the state capital’s most popular birding reserve, where anything can turn up. A gentle stroll along the boardwalks affords some close views of wildfowl, grebes, Bald Eagles on their nests and other species such as Franklin’s Gulls and Tree Swallows which hawk insects over the water. Both Audubon’s and Myrtle forms of Yellow- rumped Warblers can be found in the willows. The airport is only 20 minutes away so we will be in good time to check-in by late afternoon ready for our trans-Atlantic overnight flight home to the UK.

Day 11 – April 19: Our flight will arrive back in London during the morning of April 19th.

Please note that the above itinerary is subject to small changes in sequence dependent on weather conditions at the time of our visit.

Permission to visit the various grouse leks is restricted to a set number of persons and each lek can become fully booked by visiting groups months ahead, especially those from within the USA. For this reason we ask that those wishing to join us on the Colorado tour confirm their place with us no later than the end of July 2017. Bookings made later than this will be dependent on lek availability.

Red-headed Woodpecker – one of several ‘eastern’ species which reach their western limits in Colorado.

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