April 18
A sweet day!! We started out 4:30 am for the drive to the Greater Sage Grouse lek around Maybell about 30 minutes away. We arrived in the lightening dawn and immediately saw displaying Great Sage Grouse Males. They were on both sides of the road which is on a ranch. There were approximately 138 Greater Sage Grouse. They were close and beautiful and entertaining also. It was awesome. It was clear and cold and the wind was not too bad. We stayed about two hours to view the colourful males, puffing out their yellow neck bags and raising their tail feathers in a stiff fan to attract the females. There were several that simply crossed the dirt road (why did the chicken cross the road?? - to attract a female of course!).
We were all happy to have had such good looks and close looks at so much action. Derrick the fellow who runs the tours to the lek was also very good in getting us there. After this first of the morning lifer, we went back to the motel, packed up and headed out on highway 50 west towards the mountains. It was a beautiful day and we made good time in making it to Silverthorne which is a lot like Banff. Settled into the Rocky Mountains and a big ski resort, it is set in lovely scenery. In the last 48 hours the Loveland Pass area had 48" of snow, so the skiers are all enjoying the spring skiing,and snow boarding. This meant lots of traffic up through the impressive pass and the long tunnels to get there from Silverthorne. But enough about the spectacular scenery.
We went up to a residential street in Silverthorne, to a house that had two feeders. There were dozens of Rosy Finches feeding here along with a Pygmy Nuthatch. We saw great numbers of Brown Capped Rosy Finches, along with several Grey Crowned and a couple of the Black Rosy Finches (Halpern's subspecies). We stood on the street and viewed the feeding finches who alterntated between the feeder and the nearby pines. Once the sun came out, the colours on the Rosy Finches were spectacular. This was simply a sweet moment. Connnie and Jane and I all took lots of photos. So did the Skevingtons and Neil, The sound of camera shutters filled the air and did not seem to bother the birds.
After checking in at the Alpine Inn in Fresco which is at aproximately 9,000 feet, we headed into the Loveland Pass which takes one to the top of the Loveland Pass at over 11,000 feet. It was a spetacular drive up. This includes hairpin turns and a long tunner through the mountain. There are few barriers to the sides of the road and it is a long long way down. Finally we got to the top and we had to find a parking spot up the road as the first one was jammed with skiers. It was starting to snow a bit and there was a lot of snow up there. Jeff and all of us scanned the hillside we were looking down upon. Jeff heard the Ptarmigan (White-tailed Ptarmigan) and then spotted it. We all looked for with the odd snow flake falling on to the pristine white snow (48 fresh inches of it), looking for a pure white bird the size of a chicken. Jeff found two, not too far away from each other in the same little bit of grass and they were feeding.
We all were thrilled to bits. A sweet sweet moment! The above photo is the result. (this was taken with an Iphone through the scope with a device to hold the ipone steady that Jeff had. The Ptarmigan were hard to see until one concentrated and located the birds.
We watched them feed, other people stopped by to see what we were looking at. The Ptarmigan couple or as Connies has said "parmesan" were side by side and it looked like the best Christmas Card photo ever! Then the lovely pair flew down to some coniferous trees and sat underneath one of the trees for a few minutes. Then they disappeared. We were all smiles for the rest of the day. The female appreared to have a transmitter attached to her wing.
Tonight at supper at a Chinese/Thai restaurant we toasted our Ptarmigan. It has been a long time for me, and waiting for today made it all worth it.
On the home front, no baby girl yet, and today was the due date, so she will arrive fashionably late.
Today was the best birding day ever with some really great lifers for each of us. Just fantastic.. We are all exhausted with the long day and have lots of smiles on our faces!
Some of great birds today
A sweet day!! We started out 4:30 am for the drive to the Greater Sage Grouse lek around Maybell about 30 minutes away. We arrived in the lightening dawn and immediately saw displaying Great Sage Grouse Males. They were on both sides of the road which is on a ranch. There were approximately 138 Greater Sage Grouse. They were close and beautiful and entertaining also. It was awesome. It was clear and cold and the wind was not too bad. We stayed about two hours to view the colourful males, puffing out their yellow neck bags and raising their tail feathers in a stiff fan to attract the females. There were several that simply crossed the dirt road (why did the chicken cross the road?? - to attract a female of course!).
We were all happy to have had such good looks and close looks at so much action. Derrick the fellow who runs the tours to the lek was also very good in getting us there. After this first of the morning lifer, we went back to the motel, packed up and headed out on highway 50 west towards the mountains. It was a beautiful day and we made good time in making it to Silverthorne which is a lot like Banff. Settled into the Rocky Mountains and a big ski resort, it is set in lovely scenery. In the last 48 hours the Loveland Pass area had 48" of snow, so the skiers are all enjoying the spring skiing,and snow boarding. This meant lots of traffic up through the impressive pass and the long tunnels to get there from Silverthorne. But enough about the spectacular scenery.
We went up to a residential street in Silverthorne, to a house that had two feeders. There were dozens of Rosy Finches feeding here along with a Pygmy Nuthatch. We saw great numbers of Brown Capped Rosy Finches, along with several Grey Crowned and a couple of the Black Rosy Finches (Halpern's subspecies). We stood on the street and viewed the feeding finches who alterntated between the feeder and the nearby pines. Once the sun came out, the colours on the Rosy Finches were spectacular. This was simply a sweet moment. Connnie and Jane and I all took lots of photos. So did the Skevingtons and Neil, The sound of camera shutters filled the air and did not seem to bother the birds.
After checking in at the Alpine Inn in Fresco which is at aproximately 9,000 feet, we headed into the Loveland Pass which takes one to the top of the Loveland Pass at over 11,000 feet. It was a spetacular drive up. This includes hairpin turns and a long tunner through the mountain. There are few barriers to the sides of the road and it is a long long way down. Finally we got to the top and we had to find a parking spot up the road as the first one was jammed with skiers. It was starting to snow a bit and there was a lot of snow up there. Jeff and all of us scanned the hillside we were looking down upon. Jeff heard the Ptarmigan (White-tailed Ptarmigan) and then spotted it. We all looked for with the odd snow flake falling on to the pristine white snow (48 fresh inches of it), looking for a pure white bird the size of a chicken. Jeff found two, not too far away from each other in the same little bit of grass and they were feeding.
We all were thrilled to bits. A sweet sweet moment! The above photo is the result. (this was taken with an Iphone through the scope with a device to hold the ipone steady that Jeff had. The Ptarmigan were hard to see until one concentrated and located the birds.
We watched them feed, other people stopped by to see what we were looking at. The Ptarmigan couple or as Connies has said "parmesan" were side by side and it looked like the best Christmas Card photo ever! Then the lovely pair flew down to some coniferous trees and sat underneath one of the trees for a few minutes. Then they disappeared. We were all smiles for the rest of the day. The female appreared to have a transmitter attached to her wing.
Tonight at supper at a Chinese/Thai restaurant we toasted our Ptarmigan. It has been a long time for me, and waiting for today made it all worth it.
On the home front, no baby girl yet, and today was the due date, so she will arrive fashionably late.
Today was the best birding day ever with some really great lifers for each of us. Just fantastic.. We are all exhausted with the long day and have lots of smiles on our faces!
Some of great birds today
I am both happy for you and a teeny jealous. I saw some photos that the Skevingtons made. Great stuff!
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