We drove to the Sage Grouse lek at 4:30, through an awful snowstorm. Our guide’s car spun out twice, hitting a guard rail. And she’s the one accustomed to winter mountain driving! We didn’t have any grouse–I think I heard one off in the distance in the direction they’ve usually been displaying, but I must have had my recorder on pause and didn’t get it, but even if I had, it was only for a second. Three Mallards sat on the lekking ground, raising our hopes and then dashing them.

A Golden Eagle had apparently killed a sage grouse a day or two ago, and a coyote was skulking about where the grouse usually display, so that may have contributed, if the weather wasn’t the sticking point for the grouse.

That was disappointing, but Kim Eckert decided to alter our itinerary, so we’re staying in Gunnison tonight, too, and checking the blind tonight and in the morning again (though we can’t use the blind again because it’s already been booked). I so so SO hope we see them!

But first thing after breakfast, we headed to Jim Barry’s (sp?) feeder and saw bazillions of rosy-finches of all three species, and at least one Hepburn’s type Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. The Black Rosy-Finch was a lifer, and I haven’t seen Brown-capped Rosy-Finch since 1979, so I was thrilled. And the sun was starting to break through, giving us a stunning rest of the day.

We got skunked on Dusky Grouse at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but it was a beautiful spot. We did see bazillions of fresh grouse prints, and one of our group flushed one (though he didn’t actually see it at all). We had unexpected looks at Northern Goshawk and Short-eared Owl (!!)

My day’s list:

Canada Goose
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Common Merganser
Common Loon
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Cooper’s Hawk
* Northern Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk
* Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Long-billed Curlew
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
* Short-eared Owl (Bird of Conservation Concern)
Northern Flicker
Steller’s Jay
* Western Scrub-Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
* American Dipper
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend’s Solitaire
American Robin
European Starling
* Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
* Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
* Black Rosy-Finch (LIFER!!)
* Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
Cassin’s Finch
House Finch
House Sparrow