Birding Colorado

Saguache County
Author(s):  Mark Peterson, Nathan Pieplow
County Seat: Saguache
Size: 3,167 square miles
Low Elevation: 7,528 ft. - San Luis Creek on the Alamosa border
High Elevation: 14,294 ft. - Crestone Peak
Best Birds: Bendire's Thrasher (1984, 1986 & 1990), Anna's Hummingbird (1984)
Checklist: Saguache County Checklist
Introduction: Enormous, varied, and not even that remote, Saguache County ("sa-watch") has been almost criminally neglected by birders. The Continental Divide slices through it, separating the wonderful wetlands of the San Luis Valley from the sage and sage-grouse of the Gunnison Basin, and making this one of the few counties in Colorado to cover both slopes. Above the two valleys rise montane habitats from pinyon-juniper all the way up to the tundra of the Sangre de Cristos and the La Garitas. With the exception of large reservoirs and true shortgrass prairie, Saguache County has it all! It even contains the majority of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve--but since the easily visited parts of it are all in Alamosa County, you'll find it described on that page.

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