Colorado “Chicken Odyssey” – Rosy-finches and other feeder birds

I led two back-to-back Colorado ‘Chicken Odyssey’ trips between April 2nd and 21st, and in spite of the routes being reversed, both trips pretty much covered the same ground. While the focus of the trip is the incredible displays of the sage-grouse, prairie-chickens and Sharp-tailed Grouse on their leks, there is a tremendous amount of other bird life and wildlife to see. I will combine reports from both trips in this series of blogs.

There are only a handful of places in Colorado where one can find all three Rosy-finches as well as the slightly larger Gray-crowned subspecies known as Hepburn’s. Brown-capped are resident breeders, while Gray-crowned and Black are winter visitors, with the latter being the scarcer of the two to locate. In winter, stocked bird feeders bring rosy-finches down from the snow covered upper reaches of the Rockies and into the foothills, making it far easier for us to find them.

The Fawnbrook Inn (above) in Allenspark, on the Front Range, is one of those places, with all three species being reported in early April. Alas, on our visit with the first group all we were able to find was a number of Brown-capped.

However, the feeders were very active with Pine Siskin, Pygmy Nuthatch (above), Cassin’s Finch, Black-capped Chickadee (below) along with four sub-species of Dark-eyed Junco – Oregon, Slate-colored including the Canadian Rocky Mountain race (the first one that either Mike or I had seen in the 10 years that we have been doing this trip), Pink-sided and the ubiquitous Grey-headed.

Along the Arkansas River, the sleepy village of Granite was full of avian activity with as many as 400 Brown-capped Rosy-finches (below) swirling around the boulder strewn hillside outcroppings.

Amongst them we found a male Black (below) and five Gray-crowned. When the second group visited we had the added bonus of an American Tree Sparrow as well as a Lincoln’s Sparrow feeding on the ground in the driveway along with a White-crowned, which are plentiful on this trip.

Our only Hepburn’s (below), also known as Gray-cheeked or the Coastal race, came later in the trip and was a surprise when we found several amongst a dozen Gray-crowned at Ron’s feeders in the Yampa Valley. More about this wonderful location in a later blog.

Unfortunately by the time the second group visited, all that were left were four Gray-crowned (below). Compare the amount of gray on the heads of both these birds, especially on the cheek of Hepburn’s (above).

Next…….the Pawnee National Grasslands

all photos © adrian binns