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The Best Birding Experience in Northern Colorado
Outdoor recreation can be enjoyed in all sorts of ways. Whether it is climbing rocks on a sheer cliff face or hunting big game, or attacking that fresh powder on a snowmobile, North Park is a welcome sight for sore eyes when it comes to getting outside all year long. Whatever gets your adrenaline pumping is up to you, and a trip to Jackson County has plenty to offer just about everyone. One aspect of outdoor recreation that doesn’t get enough of a mention is the quiet pursuit of birding.
Birders, or enthusiasts of bird watching, might not draw as much attention to themselves as others who share the outdoors, but make no mistake, birding can get the blood pumping just as much for birders as a 5.10 pitch can for a rock climber. When it comes to open spaces, forests, and being at the crossroads of several North American migratory routes, our little piece of Colorado is a bird watcher’s paradise.
Get up close and personal at the State Forest State Park Moose Visitor Center
What is Birding?
Bird watching is a lot more than just staring at trees through binoculars and thumbing through Audubon guides to identify some random little brown bird. It’s a physical pursuit as much as it is mental or academic. Birders often travel hundreds of miles to see what they call “lifers” which would be a first time bird sighting in their life.
Birders often keep lists of these bird species and mark them among their accomplishments, adding another “tick” or “mega-tick” to the list. There’s a whole list of jargon that birders pick up on, not much different than a football super-fan or a coin collector. It’s a language that shows such enthusiasm for the endeavor and binds people together in something only they can know.
It’s not unusual for a birder to find out through the birding community of a rare bird being sighted in an area and drawing lots of birders in for a chance to see it. Whether it’s a “vagrant,” or bird that has appeared outside of its predicted migratory route, or “fallout” from a passing storm that has forced birds to wait out the weather en masse, a lot of people might not know just how many bird species call North Park their home throughout the year. With plenty of public land, all sorts of terrain and micro climates, and a wide range of habitats, birders have been coming to Walden and the surrounding area for generations.
Birders use apps such as Merlin from Cornell University’s Ornithology department, eBird, or other birding tracking and identification apps nowadays, making the old trope of carrying around a book full of bird identification cards look comical.
These apps not only use AI to match photos of birds to known species, but can also record the sound of their songs and help identify them that way as well! Right now on the Merlin app, there are over 100 species of birds that can be spotted in North Park! Talk about a “Big Day” or at the very least, the start to a “Big Year” in birdwatching.
A breeding pair of Northern Shovelers at the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge
Essentials to Get Started in Bird Watching
If you are interested in birding, North Park is a great place to start for some life firsts! It’s a challenging experience, but highly addictive (in a good way!) It’s a great way to spend the weekend out in nature and far away from social media. Here’s some of the things you’ll need to do to get started:
Wake up early: The early birder gets the bird! Pre-dawn through early morning are the best times of day to see birds. Many are already hunkered down due to heat, visibility, and scarcity of food during the day, so set your alarm for early!
Bug spray: Where there’s bugs there are usually birds. Unfortunately for human occupants of North Park, mosquitos, biting flies, and ticks can be a concern. Protect yourself with insect repellant and appropriate clothing and you’ll do just fine.
Water: A day of birding no matter what season of the year will dehydrate you, especially at 8100+ feet above sea level. Bring plenty of water and to avoid waterborne illnesses, don’t drink from creeks or lakes.
Versatile clothing: Dress for four seasons, preferably in layers. Even in summertime, weather conditions can change, especially in the high country. Dress in layers and always have a waterproof shell so you can add or shed layers as needed. Clothing is always a great way to avoid sunburn where the atmosphere is very thin.
Footwear: Good hiking boots will give you a sure grip as well as protect your feet from sharp sticks and rocks as well as offer protection from hypothermia when crossing glacier fed creeks in the high country.
Location: Use the apps or stop by local businesses where people are willing to share the lore with you. North Park Anglers is a great resource to use when scouting out a birding patch.
Patience: Just like fishing, patience pays off when you are birding. Sometimes that “big tick” will show up just when you have given up hope.
Field glasses and/or camera: To really get in close and personal, you’re going to want at least some 8x binoculars to see the birds. A good DSLR or mirrorless camera with an adequate zoom or superzoom lens will help you capture what you’ve seen—and even allow you to upload the image into your list!
Bird identification guide (or phone app!): Sure there are still printed field guides, which can be beneficial where cellular signals are shaky at best, but apps are a game-changer for birding. Rather than flipping through guides and going off pictures in a book, apps can help you identify which bird species you are looking at. Check out your Google or Apple store for apps such as Merlin, eBird, and many others.
Yellow-headed black bird at the Walden Reservoir
What Makes Jackson County the Best Place for Birding?
North Park is an intermountain basin in the central Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges with a mixture of high mountain desert, wet lands, alpine, and tundra. With much of the land being undeveloped public land, or at the very most free range grazing land, not much in the way of habitat has been disturbed. Rivers and creeks provide abundant food, clean water, and shelter for waterfowl and migratory songbirds, while mountain peaks and tall dead trees are great places for eagles, owls, and hawks to nest, far from the hazards of busy roads.
The best part is just how much public access birders have to all of these places. For the best places to See Birds Near Walden, you can start with the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Along the Michigan River floodplain, as well as other choice areas throughout North Park, these lands have been set aside as a protected habitat.
You’ll encounter many species of ducks and waterfowl, migratory cranes, raptors, songbirds. Throughout the Refuge, you’ll have access to birding blinds near ponds and wetlands as well as open sagebrush fields and rocky pinnacles, for which many bird species live, nest, and return to year after year.
The Walden Reservoir is also a great place to view waterfowl, such as Canada geese, pelicans, and ducks. The banks of the reservoir often echo with the calls of the killdeer or shrike and in autumn, the migrations of geese draw skeins of these great birds to stop over on their way to warmer climates. Habitat is important for songbirds and waterfowl. Cattails and rushes provide groundcover and protected nesting areas, while algae, duckweed, and an abundance of waterbeetles are a plentiful food source.
Western Grebe at the Walden Reservoir
Colorado State Forest State Park offers hundreds of thousands of acres of opportunity to see birds, from just a few miles south of the Wyoming border all the way south along the Medicine Bow mountains to Cameron pass. Above treeline, you can spot ptarmigans, hardy sparrows and finches that live in the tundra, and quirky ravens in high altitude flagged pines.
Check out the Moose Visitor Center on Hwy 14 in Gould to tick hummingbirds, crossbills, and several species of jays off your life list. The forests are no stranger to goshawks, ravens, bluebirds in the spring, and even cardinals in late winter. Seeing a flash of color from a migratory bird on its way through North Park is always a welcome surprise to announce the return of Spring.
In the hay meadows throughout Jackson County, sandhill cranes have become some of our summertime visitors, especially in the fields outside town threaded by the Michigan River. Great blue herons, cranes, and other visitors have been known to drop in occasionally too.
Sandhill Cranes stalk the hay meadows just outside Walden, CO
Lek Viewing Tours for Greater Sage Grouse
North Park is a haven for the endangered Greater Sage Grouse, with over a dozen well-established leks, or breeding grounds throughout Jackson County. In April, the North Park Area Chamber of Commerce hosts guided tours for birders for a chance to see the mating dance of the Greater Sage Grouse.
This annual event has drawn birders from all over the world. Visitor passes have just been announced, so please check out the Chamber of Commerce site for details on how to sign up. Passes sell out quickly and so do housing accommodations, so reserve your spot as early as you can.
For many birders, this might be the best and only chance to see the Greater Sage Grouse mating dance for yourself. Their habitats are disappearing in many parts of the Western US due to urban sprawl and overgrazing. Awareness is crucial in protecting species, and birding has certainly done its share of heavy lifting when it comes to making people aware of what if happening to native species.
The Town of Walden
Even if you don’t venture out into the wilds of North Park, a few backyards in town are alive with the chorus of songbirds and even have protected status. Mornings in Walden are often alive with the sounds of birdsong. Check out the established backyards near the old Walden Elementary School on Harrison Street, or Hanson Park on 4th Street.
The cottonwood trees, aspen trees, and pines found in yards throughout Walden offer shelter and nesting sites for loads of migratory birds from red winged blackbirds to hummingbirds, meadowlarks, robins, and more!
More Resources!
If you want to learn more about birding and how you can get involved in this amazing outdoor activity, there are plenty of places that can help you begin your journey of birdwatching in North Park.
When nature collides with the world of mankind in North Park, Deb McLachlan and her family are on call to help. North Park Wildlife Rehabilitation has been taking in sick or injured animals for years and nursing them back to health and releasing them back into the wild whenever possible. Deb uses her vacation rental property at 22 West (which ranks in the top 5% of AirBnB’s in the World) to fund her efforts in wildlife rehabilitation.Check out this post to learn more about her cause and how you can help.
Golden Eagle Near Delaney Buttes, Jackson Co., Colorado
Places to Stay When You Visit North Park
Rather than get up in the wee hours of the morning to drive to North Park for a day of birding, book a room in Walden, Gould, Rand, or an outlying vacation rental to get a jump on the day! Walden has several hotels to choose from, or check into a vacation rental throughVRBO or AirBnB.
We have several RV parks throughout the area as well! Always call ahead for reservations, as many campgrounds are seasonal and closed in winter. Check out this article onrental cabins, or these articles on theOld Homestead andPowderhorn Cabins.
Birding might not sound as exciting as jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, but bird watching enthusiasts have found this experience just as emotional and awe-inspiring. It’s a pastime that just about anyone can get started on, beginning with just observing birds in a city park or their own back yard.
When you are ready to get started with birding and build your lists of some rare or lifer moments, North Park is a great place to pump those numbers up! Plenty of habitats, access to nesting grounds, and some very rare birds for North America are all waiting for you here!
Let’s Get Social!
Be sure to check out theVisit North Park Blog to plan your next visit to Jackson County, CO. If there has been a favorite article that caught your attention, or if you would like to know more about something in North Park we haven’t covered, please let us know on ourInstagram,Facebook, orSubstack in the comments! Subscribe to the newsletter and receive regular posts, contests, and important announcements through email or your Substack app. It costs nothing to sign up!
