Guided trip for 2-4 in Clear Creek County in search of the elusive White-tailed Ptarmigan. This full day (approx. 6 hour) trip will be to the top of Guanella Pass in late October or early November of 2025, with a focused effort to spot these birds on their wintering grounds. There is no guarantee you will see any of these secretive birds, but your guide, Sarah Albright of Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, knows where to look. Photographers are welcome!

Sarah is the Grasslands Program Manager at Bird Conservancy of the Rockies where she oversees on-the-ground grasslands conservation delivery in northern Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Prior to her current position, she completed her M.S. at CSU conducting a burrowing owl population assessment with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and partial funding by Denver Audubon's Lois Webster Fund. Before grasslands, Sarah spent 3 summers completing Rosy-Finch and White-tailed Ptarmigan surveys across the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. She is intimately familiar with alpine flora and fauna. Striding across snowfields and rock scree squinting through binoculars to count rosy-finches and ptarmigan and observing their eating habits kickstarted her passion for conservation.

Join Sarah on a day in our mountains as she shares her love of alpine birds and knowledge of birding research. While wandering the tundra, she can also share the story of how mountain birds are riding the "escalator to extinction" as well as her personal interest in identifying the impacts of climate change on high altitude species and what steps the scientific community can take to preserve the habitat and ranges of at-risk species.

Participants will work with Sarah to choose a weekend date in October/early November with Sarah's mutual availability.

Certificate for this item will be mailed or emailed to winner.