Colorado, here we come!

Beth and I are headed to Colorado this Friday. We have a lot to look forward to, other than the new security rules at the airports. We're staying in Vail for a week and then heading to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days. I've never birded in the Rockies and I'm really excited about it. Of course, I have a target list of birds. Who wouldn't?! Here's a small peek at what I'm hunting for out there:

White-tailed Ptarmigan
Mountain Bluebird
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (very local bird)
Ferruginous Hawk (not likely)
Prairie Falcon
Clark's Nutcracker (should be easy at Rocky Mtn Natl Park)
Lewis' Woodpecker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Williamson's Sapsucker

We bought a book on wildflower hikes in CO. It has some really nice hikes, some of which include 100 species of flowers. We'll be there about a week or two behind the peak bloom season, but flowers should still be everywhere. We'll also see some great mammals I hope. Pikas (no not that one), Bighorn Sheep, Elk, and Mule Deer are pretty abundant. We have a lot of other action planned other than birding and hiking, butg I'm not sure what it is yet :). I won't have my laptop with me, so no remote blogging unfortunately. We'll be taking TONS of pictures though, so look for those when we return. I'll keep posting until we leave on Friday AM.