"Birds of Western Colorado"

FOREWORD

Twenty-six years ago, I began birding Western Colorado with an attitude.  I knew that the soils were richer on Colorado's eastern plains than the western desert dirt.  In my mind, this translated to "They've got more birds than we do."  That Rocky Mountain/Great Plains interface seemed to give "them" all the advantages. However, gradually over the years, the charm of Western Colorado birdlife has become apparent.  The Grand Junction Christmas count grew to challenge the best Front Range counts.  My Western Colorado BBS route was rich, usually netting over 60 species.  Out-of-state birders were visiting our part of Colorado, because they thought their chances were better for a number of lifer targets, such as Blue Grouse, Chukar, Gray Flycatcher, Gray Vireo, Pinyon Jay, and Sage Sparrow.  Front Range birders paid a compliment each time they sought Grace's Warblers and Scott's Orioles on our side of The Divide. The Atlas Project (1987-1994) prodded many of us to deviate from our favorite birding routes and discover new Western Colorado scenes.  Some of these are now among our favorites.  The Atlas proved the value of our region to Purple Martins.  It showed that Flammulated Owls were much more common among us than we'd suspected.  Then six years ago our signature importance to the bird world was recognized with the publication of a new species, virtually unique to our region, being only stingily shared with adjacent Utah...  the Gunnison Sage-grouse.  There can be no more sense of inferiority.  Western Colorado has emerged as an important birding destination.  It qualifies as a region of critical ornithological research and avian-oriented land management projects.  Righter, Levad, Dexter, and Potter's Western Colorado Birds arrives at the right moment to facilitate a new era in Western Colorado ornithology.  Bob Righter brings with him the background of publishing with Robert Andrews, Colorado Birds, a reference to their distribution and habitat (1992, Denver Museum of Natural History).  Rich Levad brings the power of Monitoring Colorado's Birds, a project lead by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory to know with statistical strength the status of every nesting species.  Coen Dexter brings a world context to his Western Colorado experience.  Kim Potter brings the experience of state and federal natural resource agencies.  These are people who, I've come to know, will wring meaning out of every observation.  All four authors know the territory and they know birds.  This volume will inspire Eastern Colorado and neighboring states to try to match it.  Every serious western Colorado birder and ornithologist will want to keep this reference work within handy reach.  Any West Slope land manager would be wise to know where a copy is at all times. Now let’s get on with enjoying it.

Ron Lambeth
Wildlife Biologist, BLM
Grand Junction, CO