Birding on the Western Slope Part 2: Gunnison Sage-Grouse

On two separate days during the summer we made the trek to Colorado’s Western Slope in search of new birds for my Colorado Big Year. We saw a lot of amazing birds but my favorite was the Gunnison Sage-Grouse.

June 27

We birded around Grand Junction looking for some birds we missed on our last trip to that area.

A Chukar on a rock along the cliff face.
An adult Chukar with a young Chukar standing next to it.
How many juveniles can you spot in this picture?
An awesome look at a Common Raven. What a monster bill!
A rather blurry picture of a male Scott’s Oriole. Practically the only place to find these birds in Colorado is Brewster Ridge Road west of Grand Junction.
A Gray Vireo singing from the top of a juniper bush just down the road from the Oriole.
In search of Purple Martins we headed into Grand Mesa National Forest.
After missing opportunities to photograph Purple Martin on our previous trip to the Western Slope, I was able to get a shot of one flying over.
A Green-tailed Towhee was singing in the same area as the Purple Martins.

July 18

This was easily one of my best birding days ever! We found two lifers: Pinyon Jay and Gunnison Sage-Grouse.

My long time nemesis bird, the Pinyon Jay. This bird has eluded me every time I have tried to find them.
But it wasn’t just one bird! A flock of these Jays were visiting a bird feeder.
A treat to have such close looks at my former nemesis.
A White-crowned Sparrow seen on Monarch Pass.
Another sparrow seen in the same area was this Lincoln’s Sparrow.
Now it was time for the main event, the search for Gunnison Sage-Grouse. After 5 hours of searching (yes 5 hours!) we finally found a Sage-Grouse.
Gunnison Sage-Grouse is an endangered species and only several thousand are left in the wild. Finding them is extremely difficult because of how camouflaged they are.
It wasn’t just one grouse, it was actually three! These two are juveniles that were following mom around. What an experience to see not one, not two, but three Gunnison Sage-Grouse!
Our final stop of the day was at Box Canyon falls in Ouray. This is one of the only places in the world where you can see nesting Black Swifts at eye level.
Unlike our last trip, which was too early in the season, the swifts were sitting on their nests. We counted three birds on nests.
This is the only time this species is ever seen landed. They spend the rest of their lives in the air. Look at those long wings sticking out behind them.

Any day with two lifers is incredible!