It was a half-hour car ride from our motel to get us to the lek, one hour before sunrise, as per instructions. The viewing site is a small crescent-shaped lay-by with a low stone wall to obscure the vehicles. You have to arrive, windows down, no lights and bumper to bumper parking. Once the lay-by is full there’s no parking on the road for 11/2 miles – basically you’re b*****ed if you don’t get a spot. You can’t leave until the birds do. The temperature was -7 deg c which meant wearing several layers! Slowly the darkness receded and we could make out the expanse of flat grassland reaching to the low range of hills beyond. We looked and looked but couldn’t see a sausage – or grouse for that matter. Eventually the ‘warden’ came along the line of cars pointing out the lek, which by this time, was in full swing. It must have been a kilometre away behind a line of willows – requiring ‘scopes to even see the birds. But there they were and we weren’t going to turn our noses up at the ‘adequate’ views. Apparently, in days gone by, they used to lek a lot closer – hence the elaborate procedures to avoid disturbance. By 07.15 the show was over and we could return to the motel for a well-earned breakfast. With Gunnison Sage Grouse firmly on our list, 31/2 out of 4 isn’t bad going I’d say. The rest of the day was spent exploring birding spots around Crested Butte and Gunnison – but like yesterday we were severely curtailed by lack of access (through winter road closures) to some of the best sites. Still Clark’s Grebe, Williamson’s Sapsucker, all three nuthatches, Cassin’s Finch and, in the afternoon, Yellow-rumped Warbler (our first ‘proper’ migrant) provided reasonable supporting cast.