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Tuesday 4th of April 2023 and I wake up at 1 thirty and I move to my desk to work with some of the videos I took in the Everglades. I manage to get to sleep at 3 and I am tired when I wake up at 4. I make tea killing time until 5 thirty when I call the reception for a taxi.  - Here is a taxi now!
 - I will be down in a minute!
 We reach the airport in a couple of minutes. I check in and then I have to trot all the way to the South Terminal. They have fast track so I was sitting on a bench after the security at 6 o'clock.  Not many people at the airport
 Fast track
 Ready with the security
 Trotting to Gate J8
 Tea shop at the gate
 Our plane waiting at Gate J8
 No big cups so I had to buy two
 Tea time
United Airlines have a lounge, but this is in the opposite direction. But I am lucky, there is a tea shop at gate J8 where my flight is leaving from. And of course, only baby sized cups so I had to buy two. And as we are in America it is paper cups, something I hate. But I need tea so what to do? I enjoyed my tea while uploading my video of the Red-shouldered Hawk from yesterday. A wee bit of bird watching as well, there were bird song and I discovered a couple of birds building a nest. I took a picture and I saw that it was House Sparrows. I chatted with my friend via LINE and he is on board Karen Mærsk in Siracha.  They will complete discharging one o'clock in the morning and pilot booked for two. So, he will have to return to Samut Prakan in the middle of the night. They started the PA system and it is soon time to board flight UA2204 to Denver. Time had really passed quickly and it had been very smooth, everything since I got out of bed.  Time to board flight UA2204
 Boarding flight UA2204
 Boarding flight UA2204
 Boarding flight UA2204
 Boarding flight UA2204
I took my seat and I will spend the next 4 and a half hours in my seat. We will arrive at 10 thirty and we have to retard the time by 2 hours for Denver. The flight was full but we departed in time and we were soon airborne. They served breakfast but I said no thanks, a Pepsi is enough. Lo and behold, they only have Coke. And Coke is a poor tasting fizz drink. I slept a little bit and the time passed very quickly. We approached Denver and we got weather updates from flight deck, snow and below 0°C and strong winds. This was of course nothing I was happy to hear, the snow had come as a total surprise as they had had lovely spring weather up until today according to the Lady from Denver next to me. Approaching Denver and we can see that it is white on the ground and it was very cold coming off the airplane. I had to take the train to the luggage claim area and first I thought it was a stupid system, but thinking of it and it was quite clever. Check in and luggage claim in one building then you take the train to Terminal A (first stop) and second stop at Terminal B and the last stop is Terminal C. No need to keep track on departure terminal as all check-in is in the same building.  Picking up my luggage
Picking up my luggage and I found a Pepsi vending machine and I bought a little refreshment. On the other airports they only have coke but here it seems to be Pepsi. I had to wait for an hour for the shuttle taking me to my hotel, Best Western University Inn in Fort Collins. Groome will pick me up just outside door 217 on the eastern side of the terminal. The  van arrived in time and I was soon sitting in the back. Best Western University Inn will be the last stop so I sit in the back.
They told me that it was about one hour to Fort Collins. Well, the van was not very comfy but at least I was on the way. We drove through a white landscape and we passed a couple of road accident due to snow and ice on the roads.  Shuttle coming to pick us up
 We are ready to leave
 On the way to Fort Collins
 On the way to Fort Collins
 It is winter
Groome dropped me in the reception at Best Western University Inn in Fort Collins. I checked-in and I downloaded the taxi app Lyft and I called a car. I went to buy some groceries at Target and I was soon back in my room. I will meet my Guide at 5 o'clock and we will go for dinner. He picked me up but he did not have dinner in mind, he wanted to go birding so I went back to my room to pick up my camera. The prairie is covered in snow and my Guide told me that we had a chance to see birds that we would normally not see. The birds usually on the prairie is now along the roads looking for food. It is cloudy so we can only see the foot hills, but the Rocky Mountains are just behind the foot hills but are covered by clouds. So, I hope we get clear weather tomorrow.  Leaving Fort Collins and we drive towards the foot hills
 Leaving Fort Collins and we drive towards the foot hills
We are soon outside Fort Collings driving through the plains under the foot hills and we are enjoying a white landscape. We see a lot of birds and my first sighting that I record is the Townsend's solitaire and a little bit from this tree there is one American Kestrel. Two new birds that I had never seen before. I also saw something I never seen before, must have been at least 60 Collared Doves sitting in a group on the wires. I usually see them one by one or maximum two as in a pair. There must have been thousands of larks along the roads, but they are very hard to get on pictures. So most of the pictures ended up in the bin.  Townsend's solitaire
 Townsend's solitaire
 Townsend's solitaire
 American Kestrel
 American Kestrel
 Driving around on the plains below the foot hills
 Shore Lark / Horned Lark
 Lapland Bunting / Lapland longspur
 Lapland Bunting / Lapland longspur
 Driving around on the plains below the foot hills
 Driving around on the plains below the foot hills
So, I have pictures of 4 new birds when we drive back to the hotel. And I reported a fifth lifer, a beautiful yellow bird. The Western Meadowlark, but I never got any picture. I had tea when I was back in my room and I went to bed at 9. My real birding adventure in Colorado will start tomorrow and the tour will start on the 6th of April. My plan was to visit a few eBird hotspots tomorrow by myself. But my Guide will pick me up at 7 tomorrow and we will go have a look for birds. Colorado bird watching trip report, click HERE
    
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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Species lifer: First time that someone observes a species in their life
Photo lifer: First time that someone photographs a species in their life
Audio lifer: First time that someone audio records a species in their life
Naturalized: Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals and, where applicable, have been accepted by regional bird records committee(s).
Provisional: Either: 1) member of exotic population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years, but not yet Naturalized; 2) rarity of uncertain provenance, with natural vagrancy or captive provenance both considered plausible.
Escapee: Exotic species known or suspected to be escaped or released, including those that have
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