CO - Black Swifts and another ptarmigan! 06/12

The final days of our grand tour of Colorado and Wyoming produced two very special moments, the first being at Box Canyon Falls, Ouray when we waited most of the afternoon into early evening for Black Swifts. We were on the verge of leaving when one, two and then eventually nine Black Swifts appeared overhead just as the local White-throated Swifts had been doing all afternoon. There's nothing easy about swift identification in poor, fading light but eventually all of our group came away feeling totally satisfied with thier views. I was equally delighted to capture a few diagnostic images of these exceptionally fast-moving birds.

Black Swifts - Ouray, Colorado, June 11th, 2014.

Much of our last day was dedicated to driving towards Denver but we did squeeze in an afternoon visit to Mount Evans where sharp-eyed tour participant Jim Hamilton spotted this ptarmigan from our moving vehicle, a bird found only just above the tree line.

White-tailed Ptarmigan - Mount Evans, Colorado. June 12th, 2014.