19 April 2025: Grouse Lek Extravaganza with She Flew Birding Tours
Day 1: Flying to Denver

Though I’ve birded a lot in North America I’ve never seen sage-grouse or prairie chickens and I’ve never seen them courting at their leks. Today I’m filling that gap by joining She Flew Birding Tours for the Grouse Lek Extravaganza in Colorado 19-25 April.

Our tour will be on the road every day and ultimately span Colorado east and west. We’ll visit a wide variety of habitats and elevations from the prairies to mountains to basins. Snow on high and spring on the plains.

Since I have never been birding in Colorado I stand a chance of seeing 16 Life Birds, shown in the slideshow below.

(Slideshow photos are from Wikimedia Commons -except- all photos of Gunnison sage-grouse are by Larry Lamsa via Flickr Creative Commons license)

In the days ahead I’ll describe how leks work and show videos of the species doing their unique dances.

Tomorrow we head for the Gunnison Basin.