Birding/ Bird watching in Colorado - Colorado birding with Quetzal Tours

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

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Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

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คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

Colorado birding with Quetzal Tours - Day 2

Greater Prairie-Chicken lek. Loveland Pass for White-tailed Ptarmigan.Lodging at Silverthorne, Colorado

Friday 7 ^th of April 2023 and we met in the reception at 6 o'clock. And we were lucky that our friend had joined us, my Guide had a flat tire so we had to go to the lek site in our friend's car.

The sun came up over the sand dunes when we arrived to the lek site. The bird had already started the lek and the took off when we arrived. It did not take man minutes before they were back to continue the lek

It was very cold and we could not wait for the sun to come up over the dunes to give some heat. I spotted 2 females so there might be a wee bit more action today.

The sun is coming up

The lek site

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Female Greater Prairie-Chicken
7 April 2023 - Bledsoe Cattle Ranch, Colorado, USA

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Western Meadowlark

We leave the lek site and we spot one Merlin and a Western Meadowlark sitting in the grass. So, the picture turned out to be no good. A Shore Lark and two American Kestrels before we reached the paved road.

We drive back to the hotel and my Guide go to fix the flat tire and I have a look at my pictures in my room while waiting. He calls me when he is back and we take off towards the Rocky Mountains where we will stay overnight. We decided to look for the White-tailed Ptarmigan at Loveland Pass today instead of tomorrow.

We are soon on road US 34 and my Guide spot one Rough-legged Buzzard and we make a U-turn. The bird takes off and it lands far away from the road. I took a picture even though I knew that it would end up in the garbage.

Rough-legged Buzzard

My Guide spot a group of 10 Sandhill Cranes above us, most likely on the way north to breed. We continue towards Rocky Mountains and we drive through the huge grassland. And we see several Red-tailed Hawks along the road.

Driving through the endless grassland

We can see the Rocky Mountains

We still have several hours to go before we reach the Rock Mountains

Approaching Denver

Passing through Denver

Reaching the mountains

It was a beautiful road trip, all the way from the grasslands in the east to the Rocky Mountains. We had decided to tr to find the White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Loveland Pass. Then we don't have to go back up here tomorrow morning and we have time for other exciting stuff to do.

Passing through the mountains and we passed many towns looking like of Wild West places. We will reach 3655m so it will be cold even though the sun is shining from a blue sky

Loveland Pass

Loveland Pass is a high mountain pass in north-central Colorado, at an elevation of 11,990 feet (3,655 m) above sea level in the Rocky Mountains of the Western United States.

Background
It is located on the Continental Divide in the Front Range, west of Denver on U.S. Highway 6 (US 6). The twisty road is considered to be especially treacherous during the winter months. A steep, steady 6.7% grade, along with numerous hairpin turns on either side, make it difficult to snowplow the road regularly.

The pass is named for William A.H. Loveland, the president of the Colorado Central Railroad and a resident of Golden during the late 19th century. The city of Loveland, in Larimer County near Fort Collins, is also named after him. Loveland held a railroad charter and was an advocate for a wagon road between Denver and Leadville.

In 1869, he opened this section of wagon road now known as Loveland Pass. It would be abandoned in 1906 and then restored for vehicle use in 1920 by the U.S. Forest Service.

Loveland is the highest mountain pass in Colorado that regularly stays open during a snowy winter season. When the Eisenhower Tunnel opened in March 1973, it allowed motorists on Interstate 70 (I-70) to avoid crossing the pass directly. Trucks that cannot pass through the tunnel (those carrying hazardous materials and those over 4.24 m in height) must still take US 6 across Loveland Pass, 800 vertical feet (240 m) above the tunnel.

The same is true for bicyclists, pedestrians, and those drivers who wish to stop along the road to admire the scenery.

Incidents
Plane crash
Main article: Wichita State University football team plane crash

On a clear Friday in early October 1970, a plane crash occurred about two miles (3.2 km) north of the summit, and only nine of the 40 on board survived. The plane carried members of the Wichita State University football team, as well as coaches, administrators, and boosters. The cause was attributed to several pilot errors.

Avalanche
On April 20, 2013, an avalanche at Loveland Pass killed five snowboarders in the deadliest avalanche in Colorado since 1962. A sixth snowboarder involved in the incident survived, and was extracted by a search and rescue team.

Loveland Pass

Loveland Pass

Loveland Pass

We stop on the top to look for birds

We stop at the parking on the top of the Loveland Pass. My Guide say that they might be there, at least early morning. But there was no sign of the White-tailed Ptarmigan and my Guide wassearching high and low. It was not so cold, except for in the wind, then it became very cold.

There was a lot of visitors to the top, many just stopped to have a look at the “peak”. Many people came to take the snowboard down the mountain and the would be picked up by their friends driving down the mountain with a car.

My Guide looking for the White-tailed Ptarmigan

Gorgeous view from the Loveland Pass summit

Common Raven/ Korp

My Guide was busy looking for the White-tailed Ptarmigan and I spotted one Common Raven and I tried to get some pictures. Not easy with a black bird in the snow.

There are avalanche warnings everywhere and warning for unannounced AVALANCHE BLASTS with long range weponry to blow the snow from the mountain side to have controlled “small” avalanches.

Snow building up to become dangerous avalanches

Snow building up to become dangerous avalanches

Snow building up to become dangerous avalanches

Snow building up to become dangerous avalanches

We never spotted any White-tailed Ptarmigan and we decided to give it one more tries tomorrow morning. So, we decided to go down the Loveland Pass and take in to a hotel in Keystone. Going down on the south side we drive along the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area.

There are plenty people skiing and there are many lifts going high up in the mountains.

The road down from the peak

The road down from the peak

The road down from the peak

We check in just after 3 o'clock and I spend the rest of the da in my room. Well, I left for the mini mart to buy milk for my tea. The had milk at the hotel, but it turned out to be some vanilla milk and it was sweet.

I will meet my Guide in the reception at 6 thirty tomorrow and we will start the day by giving the White-tailed Ptarmigan another try. So you just need to click HERE to find out if we have any luck tomorrow morning.

eBird Trip Report

Since April 2023 eBird offer a new feature, to create Trip Reports. At least this is when I first heard of this feature and I have decided to make the eBird Trip Reports instead of my list of OBSERVED birds.

And of course, this also means that I will HAVE TO go back and do the same for my old birding adventures, WHEN I HAVE THE TIME!

Today's Trip Report: Bird watching in Colorado - Day 4 | Click HERE

Download | PDF

Lifers
Icons for lifers used in the eBird trip reports

Species lifer:First time that someone observes a species in their life

Photo lifer:First time that someone photographs a species in their life

Audio lifer:First time that someone audio records a species in their life

Exotic species
Exotic species flags differentiate locally introduced species from native species.

Naturalized:Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals and, where applicable, have been accepted by regional bird records committee(s).

Provisional:Either: 1)member of exotic population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years, but not yet Naturalized; 2)rarity of uncertain provenance, with natural vagrancy or captive provenance both considered plausible.

When applicable, eBird generally defers to bird records committees for records formally considered to be of "uncertain provenance". Provisional species count in official eBird totals.

Escapee:Exotic species known or suspected to be escaped or released, including those that have
bred but don't yet fulfill the criteria for Provisional. Escapee exotics do not count in official eBird totals.

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