Hello birders,
Saw 5 of them at Left-Hand Reservoir near Brainard Lake today about 11:30 am, left side of trail below dam where spruce get short and willow shrubs start. Look for their tracks in the snow near willow shrubs. They were loafing about 30 feet up the bank from the trail. Photos below.
The rest of the story….
I suddenly got the urge to abandon spring birds and head north to frozen wastes to try to find some lingering winter birds. This contrarian impulse was inspired by my Walter Mitty admiration of arctic explorer Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian who was first to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1905, first to reach the south pole in 1911. At the age of 15 he had what he described as "a strange ambition to endure sufferings at extreme latitudes." So off I went this morning toward the northwest with my trusted esquimaux porter, Barbook of the North. In Ward we saw a couple of male Pine Grosbeak singing their spring song, and a couple of well-fed, mute Brown-capped Rosy-Finch at a feeder in town, as well as Pine Siskin and Mountain Chickadees. Then onward to the trailhead to the Sinister Sea (Left Hand Reservoir). We last tried for White-tailed Ptarmigan here on New Year's Day in a howling gale, 4 degrees temps, for four hours, seeing no birds whatsoever. Our fingers and toes got so frozen they did not feel right for a month. As the old saying goes, "If at first you do not succeed, try something else." Like a warmer day with no wind.
It's two miles of snowshoe hiking uphill to the reservoir, elevation gain 400 feet, so we huffed and puffed, subsisting on raw caribou meat (peanut butter crackers). Some folks use cross country skies. As we approached the dam I noticed near a willow shrub next to the trail some ptarmigan tracks. I looked slowly up the bank and there on a field of white were nine black dots—three pair of beady eyes staring at me and three little black beaks. "We've got 'em!" The three ptarmigan looked very fat and relaxed, perhaps because they felt their white-feather camouflage rendered them invisible, or maybe just bored, "Sheesh, more birders. We ought to charge 'em admission." After taking some photos of the snowy ptarmigan we circled the reservoir for a mile, enjoying the spectacular mountain scenery and pleasant weather, but saw no more ptarmigan tracks until we got back below the dam. There we found in the same spot our original three and two more which we probably failed to notice two hours before. During our four hours up there we did not see a soul, other than a pine squirrel and a distant pair of ravens.
If you want to try for White-tailed Ptarmigan, but don't feel very Norwegian, an easier bet might be Loveland Pass per Skyler Streich's eBird post on 3/7/13: "First found by calling individuals. If you go, go just at sunrise. Location was after reaching the summit (traveling west), pull over to pull-off on left. Then scan slope that is adjacent to road on western side. Birds were about 30ft from road calling, feeding, then at 7:20am flew off presumably in eastern direction." BTW, on our way home we stopped to look at Fawn Brook Inn birds and happened to see Mieke Groicher parking her car, thanked her for their winter feeders. She said their hummingbird feeders would be up in a month. Big thanks to Mieke and Hermann!
Here is a 13 pic slideshow of our adventure today: http://bit.ly/105eZrL
Skål!
Tom Wilberding
Boulder, CO
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