Gunnison Sage Grouse in Utah (1 Viewer)

Steve Keen · Mar 22, 2013

I'll be touring the SW USA with my family for 2 wks from 30th March. Thankfully there are very few new birds for me en route, but one I do need is Gunnison Sage Grouse and I was wondering if anyone knows whether there are any accessible leks for the western population around Monticello, Utah.
I know about the Waunita lek near Gunnison but that's just a bit too far out of the planned route to be viable without risking divorce, whereas Monticello is on the intended route.

Any other hints for around Moab, where I'll be for three nights and will have a bit of actual birding time, would be gratefully received too.

Cheers

Steve

Nohatch · Mar 23, 2013

Hi Steve,

May be worth getting in touch with these guys http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/news/42-utah-wildlife-news/503-see-gunnison-sage-grouse.html - they run tours in early April it seems. Let us know how you fare, I'm heading there myself in early June.

N

Steve Keen · Mar 23, 2013

Nohatch said:
Hi Steve,

May be worth getting in touch with these guys http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/news/42-utah-wildlife-news/503-see-gunnison-sage-grouse.html - they run tours in early April it seems. Let us know how you fare, I'm heading there myself in early June.

N

Cheers for that; have emailed them, but being a govt department don't expect a reply before Monday. Unfortunately the tours they're advertising don't fit in with my itinerary but I've enquired about whether it's possible elsewhen, and I'll post the outcome (assuming there is one).

Steve

ptickner · Mar 23, 2013

From Monticello to Gunnison is about 4.5 hours, with Waunita another half hour from there, so it is definitely out of the way. I've never seen the Monticello lek, so I can't be much help there.

As far as other Moab area sites go, the most popular is probably Matheson Preserve, which is bascially right in town. Migrants are starting to move through, so you might get something interesting. For other local sights, you might check out:

http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/grand/locations.htm

Are there any other birds in particular you are looking for? I'm not in Moab, but live a couple hours to the east in Colorado, but I may be able to help.

Good luck -

Paul

Steve Keen · Mar 23, 2013

ptickner said:
From Monticello to Gunnison is about 4.5 hours, with Waunita another half hour from there, so it is definitely out of the way. I've never seen the Monticello lek, so I can't be much help there.

As far as other Moab area sites go, the most popular is probably Matheson Preserve, which is bascially right in town. Migrants are starting to move through, so you might get something interesting. For other local sights, you might check out:

http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/grand/locations.htm

Are there any other birds in particular you are looking for? I'm not in Moab, but live a couple hours to the east in Colorado, but I may be able to help.

Good luck -

Paul

Bearing in mind I really mustn't get into a birding mindset with a list of sites to twitch, etc, and also that if I do opt for Gunnison it would be from Moab, so presumably a little quicker to get to than from Monticello, my potential lifers given the original plan of going from Moab to Mesa Verde were (but in most cases only because I was covering their range, not necessarily because I thought I stood a chance of getting them):

Gunnison Sage Grouse
Dusky Grouse
Flammulated Owl (too early anyway?)
Northern Pygmy Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Grey Vireo (too early?)
Juniper Titmouse
Black-capped Chickadee
American Tree Sparrow (too late?)
all 3 Rosy Finch spp
Evening Grosbeak

Heading to Gunnison (which I am negotiating, with more success than I'd anticipated) would otherwise only add Three-toed Woodpecker, Pine Grosbeak and (again presumably too early) Veery.

But it really would be just a half day around Gunnison and whatever time I could sneak at Moab!!

Thanks anyway, all gen welcome, just in case

Steve

cassowary · Mar 26, 2013

Steve I looked for the Gunnison Sage grouse around the Monticello lek for a morning (out of season) a couple of years ago without success. I would contact the local BLM also see link:

http://ebird.org/ebird/map/gusgro?b...999&env.maxX=-109.041&env.maxY=42.004&gp=true

For all the species below I suggest looking on e-bird to find the territories

Dusky Grouse - use a speaker that has good base. to call in (without calling you have very limited chance)

Flammulated Owl (too early anyway?) quite a secretive owl but responds very readily to calls in the night; however it rarely 'flys in' in response to playback. Too early anyway.

Northern Pygmy Owl - Widely dispersed - just need to find a territory - easy to locate at night using calls

Grey Vireo (too early?) Too early - also they are getting decidedly uncommon perhaps even rare

all 3 Rosy Finch spp - The only accessible place I know that all 3 rosy species occur is Sandia crest in NM, where in season they are often very easy. again check e-bird

Also it goes without saying that if you use calls, do so responsibly.

Most of the other species you mentioned are locally common in many places.

Steve Keen · Mar 26, 2013

cassowary said:
Steve I looked for the Gunnison Sage grouse around the Monticello lek for a morning (out of season) a couple of years ago without success. I would contact the local BLM also see link:

http://ebird.org/ebird/map/gusgro?b...999&env.maxX=-109.041&env.maxY=42.004&gp=true

For all the species below I suggest looking on e-bird to find the territories

Dusky Grouse - use a speaker that has good base. to call in (without calling you have very limited chance)

Flammulated Owl (too early anyway?) quite a secretive owl but responds very readily to calls in the night; however it rarely 'flys in' in response to playback. Too early anyway.

Northern Pygmy Owl - Widely dispersed - just need to find a territory - easy to locate at night using calls

Grey Vireo (too early?) Too early - also they are getting decidedly uncommon perhaps even rare

all 3 Rosy Finch spp - The only accessible place I know that all 3 rosy species occur is Sandia crest in NM, where in season they are often very easy. again check e-bird

Also it goes without saying that if you use calls, do so responsibly.

Most of the other species you mentioned are locally common in many places.

Cheers for that; had no idea the ebird site existed!! Will now be wasting many hours of my life on it.

And fortunately not wasting a day going to Gunnison. I presume the lek site you checked was that shown ca7m east of HW191, rather than that ca2.5m east. In any case now I have somewhere within striking distance of Moab I can give it more than one shot, and hopefully with more success as I'll be slap bang in the middle of lekking time.

Don't have sound equipment, but not to worry, as I say it's not meant to be a birding trip as such so I'll take what comes and try not to be too obvious about steering proceedings towards likely hotspots

Good birding

Steve

Steve Keen · Mar 29, 2013

Steve Keen said:
Cheers for that; had no idea the ebird site existed!! Will now be wasting many hours of my life on it.

And fortunately not wasting a day going to Gunnison. I presume the lek site you checked was that shown ca7m east of HW191, rather than that ca2.5m east. In any case now I have somewhere within striking distance of Moab I can give it more than one shot, and hopefully with more success as I'll be slap bang in the middle of lekking time.

Don't have sound equipment, but not to worry, as I say it's not meant to be a birding trip as such so I'll take what comes and try not to be too obvious about steering proceedings towards likely hotspots

Good birding

Steve

Thanks for the input on this but now have to report that the trip's off - my wife is pretty unwell right now so everything has been cancelled, although if the insurance people do their job we hope to try again in the summer (not Gunnison time unfortunately).

For the benefit of Nohatch I never did hear from the Monticello council people, so good luck with that.

Thanks again to all

Steve

Nohatch · Apr 4, 2013

Thanks Steve I may give them another try and report here if I spot any GS Grouse (not likely in June but hey) - shame about the trip, hope your wife gets well soon!

N

Gunnison Sage Grouse in Utah (1 Viewer)

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Steve Keen

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Nohatch

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Steve Keen

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ptickner

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cassowary

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Nohatch

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