Colorado County Birding

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      • Sagebrush
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      • Foothill Shrubs
      • Ponderosa Pine Forest
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      • Subalpine Life Zone
      • Rimrock and Mesa Country
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A birder's guide to a very special place.

Habitats

and their associated birds
Colorado is blessed with a tremendous variety of habitat types, which results in a tremendous variety of birds. In order to find a bird, you are best off looking for its habitat, and this requires at least a basic knowledge of Colorado's flora and geology. This section describes the main habitat types and some birds that are associated with them and may be hard to find elsewhere.

Sagebrush Foothill Shrubs Spruce-Fir Forest
Yucca Ponderosa Pine Forest Alpine Tundra
Shortgrass Prairie Aspen Groves Cliff Faces
Lowland Riparian Woodland Lodgepole Pine Forest Subalpine Life Zone
Scrub Oak Woodland Streamside Willows Rimrock and Mesa Country
Pinyon-Juniper Forest

About four species of these spiky plants occur in Colorado's dry and rocky areas, but birders will be most interested in the extensive stands of Yucca glauca on the eastern plains. Most good-sized patches have Cassin's Sparrow; a few of the remote ones have Greater or Lesser Prairie-Chickens.

Featured Location

Mormon Gap
Rio Blanco County

Grassland/Prairie, Pinyon/Juniper Forest

Learn More

Contributing Authors

Henry Armknecht Forrest Luke
Jason Beason Rich Miller
James Beatty Mark Minner-Lee
James D. Beatty Steven Mlodinow
Jim Berry SeEtta Moss
Sue Bonfield Mark Peterson
Allan Burns Nathan Pieplow
Todd Deininger Kim Potter
Jared Del Rosso Joe Roller
Coen Dexter Chris Rurik
Lisa Edwards Bill Schmoker
David M. Elwonger Randall Siebert
Barry Gingrich Dave Silverman
Dona Hilkey Virginia Simmons
Charles Hundertmark Andrew Spencer
Jeff Jones Steve Stachowiak
Bill Kaempfer David Suddjian
Hugh Kingery John Toolen
Nicholas Komar Linda Vidal
David Leatherman Mark Yaeger
Tony Leukering The Yampa Valley Birding Club
Rich Levad Sherrie York
Tom Litteral Eric Zorawowicz

Photo Credits

Margaret Arp Dick Maxfield
Carol Blackard Bill Maynard
Steve Bouricious Matt Newport
Steve Brown Christian Nunes
Bill Eden Brandon Percival
David Elwonger Nathan Pieplow
Dennis Garrison Ken Rush
Bruce Gill Bill Schmoker
Gregg Goodrich Larry Semo
Pat Gould Scott Severs
Larry Griffin Andrew Spencer
BB Hahn Jane Stulp
Thomas Heinrich Joel Such
Rachel Hopper Van Truan
Greg Joder Glenn Walbek
Dave Leatherman Cole Wild
Thomas Lechleitner Larry Wilson
Tony Leukering Sherman Wing
Dan Makolondra Chris Wood

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