Pawnee National Grassland is 193,000 acres mostly comprised of native shortgrass prairie in north central Colorado. Pawnee is a well known birding location because it is one of the best places in the world to see three localized and declining prairie species: Mountain Plover, Chestnut-collared Longspur, and Thick-billed Longspur as well as other common prairie species. It is also the best place in the state to find Sharp-tailed Grouse. Our goal for the day was to find all four of these species.
April is my favorite time to bird in Pawnee National Grassland. The combination of minimal biting insects, pleasant spring temperatures, and displaying Sharp-tailed Grouse make for incredible birding!
Our first target bird of the day was Sharp-tailed Grouse. The very northern part of Pawnee is the most reliable place in the state to find these birds. They had been lekking in the area but the only birds we saw were perched in a dead tree.One of my favorite hawks of the prairie, the Ferruginous Hawk. The largest hawk in Genus Buteo, these powerful predators feed mainly on medium sized mammals. I often see them around Prairie Dog towns.The most common bird on the grassland in early spring is undoubtedly the Horned Lark. These small birds can be found in almost any open habitat in the state. While the Horned Lark may be the most common sight on the prairie the song of the Western Meadowlark is a sound synonymous with any open habitat in the western United States. Although this robin sized songbird may look harmless, the Loggerhead Shrike is a ferocious predator. Although in summer their diet consists mostly of large insects, in winter they will eat rodents and small birds. They are famous for skewering uneaten prey on thorns or barbed wire fences to eat later.One of the strangest sights on the dry shortgrass prairie is the profile of a distant shorebird. The Mountain Plover is a unique shorebird spending almost none of its life along the shores of oceans and lakes. They spend summer on the short grass prairie of the western great plains. Like many prairie birds Mountain Plover are declining with the world population around 20,000. The fragmentation of native shortgrass prairie and decline of prairie dog towns which provide excellent nesting habitat contribute to the decreasing numbers. Pawnee is one of the remaining strongholds for this species in Colorado. Another local prairie breeding species is the Thick-billed Longspur. They breed in native shortgrass prairie from Montana to northern Colorado. Over the last 50 years these birds have declined by almost 90%. Pawnee National Grassland is the best place in the state to find these birds during the summer months. The last of our four target birds, the Chestnut-collared Longspur. They are found in native shortgrass prairie. Since 1980 these longspurs have declined by more than 80%. Of all the Longspurs in North America the Chestnut-collared Longspur has by far the most accurate and descriptive name of any of these small prairie birds.
