BIRDING TO THE EDG

Some of you may know that I have attempting a quest to hike all 54 of Colorado's fourteen thousand foot mountains. I have accomplished 11 so far but last week was one of the more interesting ones I conquered. Mt. Democrat is part of the Mosquito Range that has 5 "14ers" in a close proximity. The trail started from the base of the main incline and climbed two miles to the summit. I always try to do these early since Mt. Democrat and company are crowd favorites during the weekend given that Denver is only an hour and a half away. I got lucky with a beautiful day although at 5 am it was still pretty chilly. I sat in the car with the heat on full-blast before getting out. I couldn't bring myself to just drive up from the campsite and march out of the car. It was close to freezing at that point!!!! BRRRRR!

I summited with ease given the easy trail up, but found a hen White-tailed Ptarmigan with one chick on the way down. Typically, there are more like five or six young, but perhaps this hen's clutch was preyed on and/or had failed hatchings. They were playing about the trail as people were marching right over them. It is really amazing how tame they really are.

This shot of momma was her hunkering down to avoid the foot traffic on the trail. Once Ptarmigans hatch their clutch the male disappears from the brood rearing and the female takes the chicks to lower elevation to find cover. They don't drop too much however. She will take her babies towards the willows where there is plenty of water and lots of grasses and forbs to feed on. Although the young generally take to insects first they gradually move towards plant matter as they mature.

I get to see Ptarmigans often while hiking these mountains, but I always stop to either take photos or just watch them. Especially when I am on a mountain alone! It becomes so peaceful just to watch these guys. Although White-tailed Ptarmigans aren't hard to identify (only chicken in range and habitat) they are hard to locate, so the challenge makes it worth it.

I took these shots with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm F4 Nikkor lens. Thanks for reading and check back for more posts soon.