CO-NM-AZ Trip ~ May 2, 2009

We arrived back at the Waunita Hot Springs lek by 5:00 AM. As it began to get light, we heard and then saw our ‘life’ Gunnison Sage-Grouse as over 30 males displayed among a few females. This poor photo shows them strutting their stuff. You can barely see the air sacs and the long filoplumes on the third bird from the right. The birds were about 150 yards away, thus the poor photo in the dim, early-morning light. Luckily, the showers predicted for that morning never materialized.

By 7:30 AM, almost all of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse left the lek and flew across the road in front of our car.

This overall view of the lek shows the informational signs along the road. The birds were displaying in the lightest-colored strip of meadow above the rightmost sign.

Other birds seen or heard at the lek included Wild Turkey, Killdeer, Wilson’s Snipe, Black-billed Magpie, Cliff and Barn Swallow, and Mountain Bluebird. After the last bird left, we started the long drive back down through Colorado and New Mexico.

Highway 50 crosses the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass. The pass is 11,312 feet in elevation.

A stop at a small pond south of Poncha Pass produced Northern Shoveler, Common Merganser, Willet, and Tree Swallow.

Looking north along Highway 285, near Villa Grove, Colorado. The Rocky Mountains are in the background. A Loggerhead Shrike was seen along this section of road.

Here are three of the Pronghorn that were seen along Highway 285 near Villa Grove, Colorado.

This male Yellow-headed Blackbird was seen along Route 17 north of Alamosa, Colorado, at a cattail marsh traversed by a railroad trestle. Cinnamon Teal and Violet-green Swallow were also seen in this area.

This Swainson's Hawk was seen along Route 17 north of Alamosa, Colorado.

A Western Meadowlark was seen at the same place as the Swainson's Hawk.

One last look back across the Colorado border.

Babe Webster and our Ford Focus rental car at the New Mexico border with San Antonio Mountain in the background.


White-winged Dove was the only new trip bird seen along the New Mexico leg of the 488-mile drive to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where we spent the night at the Hot Springs Inn.

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