Colorado - August 11th - 16th, 2004

My trip to Colorado started off very well but quickly turned into a birding disaster from a "new bird" perspective. However, when I factor in the scenery, the birds which weren't new for the year, and the other wildlife, it was still a fantastic experience. I arrived in Denver the evening of the 11th and drove up to Greeley, where I stopped for the night. By sunrise the next morning I was at the start of the self-guided auto tour at the Pawnee National Grasslands (described well in Holt's A Birders Guide to Colorado). After seeing plenty of Horned Larks, I finally found a number of McCown's Longspurs feeding in the strips of grass in the road. Soon thereafter I was seeing and photographing numerous Lark Buntings in breeding plumage (below right). I caught a quick glimps of what I think was probably a Grasshopper Sparrow (mostly the shape and the pattern on the back), but I wasn't quick enough processing the field marks to be 100% confident before it flew.

I didn't find any Chestnut-collared Longspurs along the auto tour, so I tried a spot in the western portion of the Grasslands known as the Central Plains Research Range (?). This area was fenced off, so I called the number on the no trespassing sign and a woman named Mary gave me permission to enter the field. I flushed a few Horned Larks before several Longspurs eventually flushed. One finally landed close enough to get this picture through my binoculars (below left).

Relatively content with my days work, I drove west to the Rocky Mountain National Park, where I forked over twenty bucks to sleep in my car (they frown on parking overnight outside of campground areas). It got quite a bit colder than I expected and I didn't want to disturb the peace by running my engine, so I had a fitful night of trying to contort my body into a comfortable position that would keep as much of my body as possible under the one jacket I had packed.

I got a very early start up Trail Ridge Road where I was sure to find Brown-capped Rosy Finch (and maybe more White-tailed Ptarmigan) on the Rock Cut Trail. It was very, very cold as I started up the trail at 6 AM. American pipits were numerous, yellow-bellied marmots called out from the rocks, and a herd of Elk gathered around the trail, but I never saw any Finches or Ptarmigans. There were no snowfields, which caused me some concern. I knew June was meant to be the best month for a visit, but nothing in my guide books had led me to believe that August would be too late. I decided to head back down below tree line and look for some of my other target birds: Hammond's Flycatcher, Red-Naped Sapsucker, and Three-toed Woodpecker.

On my way down, I began to feel the effects of my prior nights lack of sleep. I decided to take a quick nap at one of the pullouts. Just as I began to nod off, I heard voices around my car. I sat up to see a small crowd of folks staring at my rear tire. "Your tire has a leak," said a young man through my window. Indeed I did. The prudent thing to do would have been to put on the spare and then drive out of the park to get the tire fixed. But I didn't want to burn that much daylight. So instead, I raced my leaking tire down the mountain and purchased a $7.99 bottle of fix-a-flat at the first store outside the gate. This didn't stop the leak, but it did buy me enough time to go back in and do some more birding. I tried a secluded spot called Little Horshoe Camp that was said to be good for Woodpeckers, but found only Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches and "Gray-headed" Dark-eyed Juncos. I then tried the Lawn Lakes Trail where I found a Red-naped Sapsucker in the parking area. It was the only one I would see for the trip, even though my guide books said they would be common. It was also the LAST NEW BIRD I would see for the trip, meaning the last three days of my trip would be a waste of time from a new bird perspective.

I drove back out of the park and called Hertz, which agreed to switch my car if I would drive to Boulder, which was just slightly out of my way. This made it impossible to get to Golden Gate State Park that day, so I got a room in Boulder and then made an evening trip to Brainard Lake on Mount Audubon where I was sure to see Hammond's flycatcher. I didn't, but the birding was still fun and the area was spectacular. Someday, I'll have to come back and take advantage of the campground, which was bustling on a Friday night.

Golden Gate State Park had less spectacular scenery, but offered a peaceful and beautiful setting for a morning hike up the Burro and Mountain Lion Trails to an area where I at least had a remote chance at Three-toed Woodpecker. I saw a Hairy Woodpecker instead, and no Hammond's Flycathers. Was it too late in the season? I was then off the Mount Evans, where I was becoming doubtful that I would see Brown-capped Rosy Finch even though my guide book said they were almost guaranteed at Lake Summit. I was right to be doubtful as all of the small birds in the area were Pipits. I tried every suggestion in the book to no avail. So I settled on driving to the summit parking lot (it is the highest paved road in the U.S.) and hiking the last hundred or so yards to the top. I believe it was the highest I have been in my life (unless my mom packed me up Denali or Rainier as a baby). It didn't seem right that such a short hike took me to a higher elevation by several thousand feet as my strenous hike up Mt. Rainier to Camp Muir. On the way down, I got a nice picture of a Pica, which was a small consolation. I found the views on Mount Evans to easily rival those in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Having decided that the mountain birds had conspired against me, I got the really bright idea to drive east several hundred miles to Kearney, Nebraska where I had found a bird checklist indicating I would easily three Dickcissel, Grasshopper Sparrow and Field Sparrow, all birds I had somehow missed on previous trips. Brilliant! I overnighted near Fort Morgan (billed as the boyhood home of Glen Miller of all things). After several hours of Internet research the next morning, I arrived at Kearney at 3 PM (I lost an hour crossing into Central Time Zone) and decided to stop at the Visitor's Center where a helpul woman named Connie directed me to the Rowe Sanctuary severl miles to the east. It is worth noting that in the spring, Rowe Sanctuary is one of the prime spots for viewing the Sandhill Crane flocks that gather in huge numbers along the Platte River. I hoped there would be huge flocks of grassland sparrows. But I came up empty.

I tried again the next day. also to no avail, and finally had to haul myself back to Denver feeling quite the fool. One thing I have learned this year to appreciate the experiences I am lucky enough to have, rather than dwell on the misses. Still, missing these three common birds when I may not have another chance at them was a bit hard to swallow. Being the first person to do a Big Year and not see Dickcissel, Field Sparrow and Grasshopper Sparrow was not the kind of record I wanted to set.