Day 1: Denver

You arrive in the Mile High City, where we spend the night in a hotel in the airport. The hotel provides a complimentary airport shuttle bus.

 

Day 2: Denver to Craig

Heading out of Denver, we will make stops at Loveland Pass and Silverthorne. The snow-draped Loveland Pass is popular among skiers for the great downhill opportunities, but for nature photographers and birders for the chance of the ghostly white White-tailed Ptarmigan, which, if found, can often walk right up to our cameras. Nearby Silverthorne will provide a great finale and photo shoot for the tour, as hundreds of tame birds assault the local feeders, which can include all three species of rosy-finch, Evening and Pine Grosbeaks, Pygmy Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee, and Clark’s Nutcracker. Later we carry on to Craig, where we spend one night.

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Day 3: Sharp-tailed Grouse to Walden

The displays of the different chickens/grouse are varied and distinct, making them all fascinating, and worthy of individual photo shoots, and perhaps none illustrate this so well as the lek of the Sharp-tailed Grouse. When displaying these acrobatic birds puff out their violet display patches, and the fiery-yellow comb above the eyes of the male is at its most vibrant. However, it is the movements of the birds which will most impress and encourage us to reel of masses of photos. We will be shooting from a specially-erected personal blind for the use of our group alone, and literally be surrounded, on all sides, by excited males partaking in the “ballet” of spring, where in unison many of them pirouette while cocking their namesake tail high in the air, and bowing to an appreciative crowd of gathered photographers. It literally has to be seen to be believed; we wil not only see it, but use our close-range lenses to capture each and every absorbing moment. At times the birds may be testing our minimum focusing distance as they dance right up to the edge of the blind. So be prepared, and bring some close-range gear with you too, to avoid disappointment, at this, one of the best leks in the state; bar none. After these final displays, we will drive to Walden for a two-night stay.

 

Day 4: Greater Sage-Grouse and Walden

Nothing cam prepare you for the truly unique, frankly obscene, and undoubtedly comical display of the Greater Sage-Grouse. In addition to the bizarre nature of these which will be our focus for the morning, there is added photogenic value provided by the dramatic landscape in which they do this in: an open, frost-dusted valley, surrounded by the jagged, snow-capped peaks of the Rockies. After using our 400mm/500mm/600mm lenses on the sage-grouse at length, we will move on to some mountain feeders, which will offer excellent opportunities to photograph mountain birds at close range, like deep-pink Pine Grosbeaks, spritely juncos, and achingly blue Steller’s Jays.

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Day 5: Walden to Wray

While it’s a long drive east to Wray, we’ll have time to visit some wetlands to photograph breeding plumage ducks at close quarters, and there is a decent chance to find Moose.

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Day 6: Greater Prairie-Chickens to Kansas

Another chilly, pre-dawn, arrival will see us position ourselves on the open prairie waiting for the coming of dawn, and the procession of male prairie-chickens that comes with it. Once the Greater Prairie-Chickens arrive en-masse we expect to be literally surrounded by tens of displaying males. Two lenses can be useful here: a 500mm for close-ups of displaying individuals, while a 200-300mm can be useful too for the aerial duels between rival males. This latter aspect of their displays-battles between fighting males-makes this species particularly appealing to nature photographers, as they offer superb and absorbing behavioural studies. After enjoying a morning with these prairie-chickens we will move west into Kansas, where we will overnight for another, rarer prairie-chicken, the next day. A single night will be spent in Kansas, at either Oakley or Scott City, depending on which of the private Lesser Prairie-Chicken ranches we will be visiting (these are allocated at a later stage).

 

Day 7: Lesser Prairie Chickens to Denver

On this day we will visit a very different private ranch from the one the day before, this time among the different style prairie required for the Lesser Prairie-Chickens, the considerably rarer cousin of the Greater. While similar in appearance the displays of the Lessers are quite different from the Greater Prairie-Chickens , and plentiful dramatic fighting often accompanies these energetic displays. After a morning in Kansas we will head back into Colorado and our Denver hotel for a further two nights.

 

Day 8: Denver Flexible Day

This day is left flexible so that we can focus on going to shoot at the myriad sites around Denver, whether this be for Williamson’s Sapsucker and Pygmy Nuthatch amongst the pines west of the city, having another shot at the White-tailed Ptarmigan on the snowbound Loveland Pass, checking in on the attendant rosy-finches at a local feeders site, or visiting one of the plentiful wetland sites for a barrage of ducks and waterbirds like grebes in breeding plumage, there will be plenty to fill this day and more! The final night wil be spent near the airport in Denver.

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Day 9: Departures from Denver

There is no photography planned for this, a hotel shuttle will take you to the airport for flights out.