This morning Bob Moston, David Price and myself spent the morning around Fruita Reservoir #1 on Pinyon Mesa south of the Glade Park Store. On the way up, we rounded a corner, and there she was - a female *Gunnison Sage Grouse* on the left hand side of the road. We stopped and watched her from about 15 yards away - long tail, black belly and flanks, and feathering to the base of the toes. She would put one foot in front of the other, take two or three steps, stop...wait, then take another couple of very deliberate steps, stop...wait, then repeat the pattern. It took her between 5 and 10 minutes to cross the forest road. Once she reached the other side and entered the sagebrush, she was just as deliberate and very well camouflaged. We watched her from inside the car for about 15 minutes. The location was on South 16 1/2 Rd past the intersection with JS Road and about a mile below the National Forest Boundary. In addition to the sagebrush habitat with grasses, there was a moist meadow less than 100 yards away.
Lots of Woodpeckers in and around Fruita Reservoir #1. Highlight was seeing two *Three-toed Woodpeckers* at close range feeding by pecking, rather than scaling & flaking. We had great looks at about 15 yards - could even see the feet of the woodpeckers. Also had Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-naped and Williamson's Sapsuckers, plus the numerous Flickers. Also saw 45-50 Brewer's Blackbirds perched together in a couple of scrub oak trees. Never seen that many together outside of feed lots, pastures etc in winter. Mike Henwood Grand Junction Mesa County -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAL4VesoGnmYZjgC3QMOvbH45WaqJmaDM2OQ-1TvQ%2BrJVhsGZ7w%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
