Day 254: Dusky Grouse

The Dusky Grouse was another bird that we really wanted to see in Colorado. We heard that one had been seen on a certain trail recently, so we went to check it out. After hiking a while, we still hadn't found one, but we ran into a local birder who was also looking (the same birder who ran the bird banding station). We chatted a while, and he went on his way back towards the trail head. We soon decided to give up and turn back as well, which was very fortunate, because just a few minutes later we ran into the birder again, and he had found two Dusky Grouse right on the side on the trail!

It seemed to be an adult and a younger grouse together. They let us get pretty close to them without scaring off, and we watched them for quite a while.