April 15
Today we girls had the luxury of sleeping in a bit longer and we got up at 5:45 am. We decided that we were happy to have seen the female Dusky Sage Grouse yesterday. Jeff, his Dad Richard, his son Alexander and Richard's friend Neil all left early this morning to drive on to Black Canyon of the Gunnison again for dawn to try for the courtship display of the male Dusky Sage Grouse. We girls just could not get up early for the hour long drive in the the pre-dawn hours. The fellows were really lucky and saw the male Dusky Sage Grouse displaying and took some wonderful photos. We met up with them at Montrose as we left Gunnison at 7 am. Our drive was not as pretty as yesterday's. It was a drive through the lower storm clouds. We would drive out of the low clouds as we were driving through the passes and then back in as we went up the pass and then back down again. Once we met up with the fellows we drove on to the best canyon I have ever seen in Colorado. I am pretty sure the others agree.
Escalante Canyon (off of Highway 50 on the way to Grand Junction) had the most varied mountain scenery.. With pink rocks and tall canyons, grasslands and foothills in the long drive (we estimated it to be 10 miles long maybe). It is the same drive back.
This place also has great birds. We saw Mountain Bluebirds, Western Bluebirds, Gray Flycatcher (a lifer for many), Bewick's Wren, Brewer's Sparrow, and the Black-throated Grey Warbler (a lifer for me and others). Young Alexander is just piling on the lifers in this trip. Escalente Canyon is a wonderful place. The standing rock canyons at places looked like ancient temples in ruin. Some looked like abandoned medieval towers. The variety of the canyon formations were unique. Some of the rocks looked ready to slide down onto the dirt road. This is not a place to be during a storm. We loved this place for the scenery and the birds. We saw the Yellow Marmot here along with three Big Horned Sheep here. The birds just kept on showing up for us. The Sage Thrasher was the last bird we saw.
From here we ended up on the I70, the major highway east west through Colorado including Denver. Just outside Grand Junction we stopped at Wild Horse Road at the end of the day. Here we were fortunate to see two Chukars flying to end the day. We then drove on to Grand Junction where we are staying now at the Quality Inn on Horizon Road. We had a good supper at the hotel which saves time driving to a restaurant.
We know there is a storm coming and we will be driving to Craig tomorrow afternoon so we should only be on the outskirts of the weather. We have to check that our rental car has chains, which none of us have ever even put on or driven with just in case, as, in the news, they said if anyone was going into the Denver area to make sure that they have chains on their vehicles as it is the law. We are over two hundred miles away from Denver and we are heading north for the Greater Sage Grouse and Gambel's Quail and maybe the Sharp-tailed Grouse. Jeff talked to the fellow we are to meet at the lek this evening and this fellow said we should be fine with good tires. So no worries on that.
We are all overtired this evening, including someone named Jane as she did all the driving today, so we can't stop laughing. Jeff would like us to load up by 6 am and then go have breakfast so it is another early morning start. We are trying to get to bed early tonight but I am doing this blog, Connie is organizing and finally found something she has been looking for days in one of her black bags. Jane told us she has a switch blade that we have to remind her she has before she gets on the plane, she does not want to lose it. So it is one of our more "normal" evenings. I have yet to find my curing iron that I had the first night we were here and it has not been seen since. Tomorrow it is my turn to drive. I have to see what is for breakfast tomorrow that maybe could be a lunch possibility.
It will be another adventure tomorrow with new birds.
Here are some of the views we saw today, just stunning.
Today we girls had the luxury of sleeping in a bit longer and we got up at 5:45 am. We decided that we were happy to have seen the female Dusky Sage Grouse yesterday. Jeff, his Dad Richard, his son Alexander and Richard's friend Neil all left early this morning to drive on to Black Canyon of the Gunnison again for dawn to try for the courtship display of the male Dusky Sage Grouse. We girls just could not get up early for the hour long drive in the the pre-dawn hours. The fellows were really lucky and saw the male Dusky Sage Grouse displaying and took some wonderful photos. We met up with them at Montrose as we left Gunnison at 7 am. Our drive was not as pretty as yesterday's. It was a drive through the lower storm clouds. We would drive out of the low clouds as we were driving through the passes and then back in as we went up the pass and then back down again. Once we met up with the fellows we drove on to the best canyon I have ever seen in Colorado. I am pretty sure the others agree.
Escalante Canyon (off of Highway 50 on the way to Grand Junction) had the most varied mountain scenery.. With pink rocks and tall canyons, grasslands and foothills in the long drive (we estimated it to be 10 miles long maybe). It is the same drive back.
This place also has great birds. We saw Mountain Bluebirds, Western Bluebirds, Gray Flycatcher (a lifer for many), Bewick's Wren, Brewer's Sparrow, and the Black-throated Grey Warbler (a lifer for me and others). Young Alexander is just piling on the lifers in this trip. Escalente Canyon is a wonderful place. The standing rock canyons at places looked like ancient temples in ruin. Some looked like abandoned medieval towers. The variety of the canyon formations were unique. Some of the rocks looked ready to slide down onto the dirt road. This is not a place to be during a storm. We loved this place for the scenery and the birds. We saw the Yellow Marmot here along with three Big Horned Sheep here. The birds just kept on showing up for us. The Sage Thrasher was the last bird we saw.
From here we ended up on the I70, the major highway east west through Colorado including Denver. Just outside Grand Junction we stopped at Wild Horse Road at the end of the day. Here we were fortunate to see two Chukars flying to end the day. We then drove on to Grand Junction where we are staying now at the Quality Inn on Horizon Road. We had a good supper at the hotel which saves time driving to a restaurant.
We know there is a storm coming and we will be driving to Craig tomorrow afternoon so we should only be on the outskirts of the weather. We have to check that our rental car has chains, which none of us have ever even put on or driven with just in case, as, in the news, they said if anyone was going into the Denver area to make sure that they have chains on their vehicles as it is the law. We are over two hundred miles away from Denver and we are heading north for the Greater Sage Grouse and Gambel's Quail and maybe the Sharp-tailed Grouse. Jeff talked to the fellow we are to meet at the lek this evening and this fellow said we should be fine with good tires. So no worries on that.
We are all overtired this evening, including someone named Jane as she did all the driving today, so we can't stop laughing. Jeff would like us to load up by 6 am and then go have breakfast so it is another early morning start. We are trying to get to bed early tonight but I am doing this blog, Connie is organizing and finally found something she has been looking for days in one of her black bags. Jane told us she has a switch blade that we have to remind her she has before she gets on the plane, she does not want to lose it. So it is one of our more "normal" evenings. I have yet to find my curing iron that I had the first night we were here and it has not been seen since. Tomorrow it is my turn to drive. I have to see what is for breakfast tomorrow that maybe could be a lunch possibility.
It will be another adventure tomorrow with new birds.
Here are some of the views we saw today, just stunning.
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