The ‘s name is a bit of a misnomer: There’s no trailhead, and the overall project is more comparable to the state’s scenic byways than to hiking trails.
Think of the Colorado Birding Trail ( ) instead as a network of hundreds of sites where visitors can , yes, but also other wildlife — sometimes in quite unexpected places.
Did you know that one of the state’s — about 70 head — winters right off the road in southeast Colorado’s , (the one a few miles from Campo) near the Oklahoma border?
“It’s one of the prime bighorn sheep-viewing spots in the state, and most people don’t know it exists,” said John Koshak, the region’s watchable-wildlife coordinator at Colorado Parks & Wildlife.
“We call it the Colorado Birding Trail, but like most birding trails, it’s really a wildlife and birding trail. So ‘birding trail’ is the moniker. But ‘Colorado Wildlife and Birding Trail’ doesn’t just roll off the tongue.”
Work on the Colorado Birding Trail project began in 2000, about six years after Texas created its celebrated program.
Koshak worked with the state transportation department, members of local Audubon Society chapters, farmers, ranchers and other community members to pinpoint promising birdwatching sites.
Nearly three-fourths of Colorado has been mapped so far — southeast Colorado, southwest Colorado and northwest Colorado. (Watch the website for announcements about the northeast Colorado quadrant.)
How does it work? Visit the website and choose a region. Koshak likes the Comanche Trail in southeast Colorado, especially with its rimrock canyons reminiscent of Utah’s Canyonlands.
Site locations are on a map sprinkled with green and red pinpoints. Green means public land. Red means the site is on private land, usually a farm or ranch, where a visit requires advance permission.
Here’s a sampling from the Colorado Birding Trail network, with some of the birds spotted frequently on each trail:
: Southeast Colorado, south of Lamar and just north of the Oklahoma panhandle. Canyonlands terrain, and the prairies and hills commonly associated with the Colorado plains. Look for , and Woodpeckers, , , and .
: Southeast Colorado, north of Lamar and east of Colorado Springs. Lots of mostly man-made reservoirs mean lots of waterfowl, including plovers, sandpipers, cranes, egrets, , and non-water birds like , , and (and where there are Burrowing Owls, expect rattlesnakes).
: On the plains east of Denver and Greeley are namesake , and also , and
: South of Pueblo and La Junta, with lots of sites along the just west of Trinidad, look for , , , , and Bluebird and .
: Along the Arkansas River, south of Leadville and north of Salida, look for , , and
: North of Durango and south of Ouray, look up at cliff faces for the eponymous and notoriously difficult-to-spot ,
, and .
: Sprinkled near Black Canyon of the Gunnison, southeast of Grand Junction and near Paonia State Park, look for , , and .
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
Happy (birding) trails
For new birdwatchers and veterans adding to their life lists, the Colorado Birding Trail network offers sites on public and private lands where visitors can spot birds and other wildlife.
Ute mountain/mesa verde birding festival
Wednesday-Sunday, , Mancos Public Library and other locations in Mesa Verde County, Arizona and Utah; 970-565-1151
Events include a lecture by , author of birding trips on the Dove Creek Trail (a part of the Colorado Birding Trail), Old Spanish Trail, Dolores River Canyon, La Plata River and other locations.
Registration for the festival is $10 per day or $5 per lecture, and $50 for the five-day festival. Additional fees for some trips.
