We left the hotel at 4:40 and drove to a Lesser Prairie-chicken lek near Scott, Kansas. We were positioned in blinds by 6:00 and spent the next 2 hours and 20 minutes staring at the lek. Normally if you stared straight ahead for that long you would be watching a movie from a comfortable seat. We were very cold while sitting on plastic chairs, but the show was still enjoyable.
Lesser Prairie-chicken
Male and female
As we drove away from the lek we saw some Burrowing Owls.
We ate lunch at an IHOP just south of Colby, Kansas. That location may be familiar to you if you know the song "Matthew" by John Denver.
I had an uncle named Matthew
He was his father's only boy
Born just south of Colby, Kansas
He was his mother's pride and joy.
So that song has been stuck in my head all week.
We made a few more stops as we drove west to Wray, Colorado. Thursday was another early start as we visited our final lek, home of the Greater Prairie-chicken.
There were about 35 birds on a lek with very short grass. The rising sun behind us provided excellent lighting.
The lek
Greater Prairie chicken shaking a tail feather on his stomping grounds.
The males have long feathers that stick straight up briefly while they are dancing. They lie flat against the neck most of the time.
She's just not into you.
This ring-necked pheasant put in a brief appearance.
As we drove across the ranch we saw this Great Horned Owl peeking at us from her nest.
This Western Meadowlark was perched on a nearby wire.
As we headed towards Pawnee National Grasslands, we pulled over to admire this Rough-legged Hawk.
Pawnee National Grasslands was disappointing. Everywhere we looked there seemed to be hundred of shotgun shells. There were broken bottles and shards of glass marring the landscape. The restroom and every sign in sight were riddled with bullet holes.
We did see a few birds including this Sage Thrasher.
There are three species of longspurs in the area and they were our target birds. We had fleeting glimpses of four longspurs, but they did not stay in view long enough for us to see the key field marks.
One longspur was near our van and I quickly tried to get a picture.
I checked the back of my camera and found this photo of a Horned Lark. Nice picture, but I got the wrong bird.
I had time to get a few more quick shots including the photo below which was the best shot of the trip.
Aesthetically it may be lacking, but it provided just enough detail for us to identify it as a Chestnut-collared Longspur.
Friday was our last day of birding. We headed north from Denver to Loveland Pass to try for White-tailed Ptarmigan. We stopped at the same spot on our first day and watched two women nearly get blown over by the gusting winds. We quickly moved on hoping to return during better weather on our last day.
We got our wish! It was very cold, snow was blowing in our faces, but the wind was not bad enough to prevent our fearless leader Dorian and me from spending 45 fruitless minutes looking for this white bird in the drifting snow. The other four members of our party remained in the van.
We moved to lower elevations and had a nice walk through Conifer Community Park.
Two sapsuckers teased us for a while before letting us get a decent look. The Williamson's Sapsucker did not stay long enough for a good photo, but the Red-naped Sapsucker was a bit more obliging.
I heard a distant call that sounded like a screech-owl on steroids. I watched as the source of the shrill sound flew by between the trees.
Not an owl
Our final stop at Rocky Mountain Arsenal was a good way to end the trip. We saw bison and prairie dogs.
We also saw two American Pipits, my last new bird for the trip. I ended the day with 379 species for the year. That is the exact number of North American species I had seen in my entire life prior to this year.
I saw a total of 138 species in Colorado in ten days. Forty-seven were new for my year list bringing my total to 379. Twenty-six were birds I had never seen before, bringing my North American life list to 537. My world life list now stands at 997, so I should hit another milestone next week.