Need some resources to help explore Colorado? We strongly encourage anyone visiting the back roads of Colorado to be prepared. Make sure you have a good road atlas, food, water, proper clothing and some sunscreen. We also suggest bringing a pair of binoculars and bird book or wildlife viewing guide.
Colorado Maps & Road Atlases
There are three great road atlases you can purchase to help you navigate around the state. We’ve also made it easy for you to find Birding Trail sites by giving you the page and section number for the Delorme Atlas and The Roads of Colorado.
- DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer Paper Maps
- Colorado Road & Recreation Atlas
- The Roads of Colorado by MAPSCO
Books – Bird Field Guides
Need some help identifying birds? There are a variety of identification guides you can purchase, to help you out, we’ve listed some favorites.
- Peterson Field Guide to Birds
- National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds
- The Sibley Guide to Birds
- Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America
Online Resources – Bird Field Guides
The All About Birds online bird guide is a great resource with lots of information on more than 630 species of birds from the U.S. and Canada, including photos, sounds, and videos. You can browse birds by family and shape. Each account has a section where the featured bird is compared to similar species, which helps in identification when species look alike.
Apps
Should you use phone apps while birding? Want to know where to start? Here are some of the most popular.
- Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab (free) – This app helps you identify birds by photo and sound, and has a robust field guide with content from All About Birds.org. Sound identification is one of its most interesting and useful features. All data is in the app, so no wifi is needed.
- Sibley Birds ($19.99) – All content of the beloved Sibley books is available on this app, including the iconic art of David Sibley. With over 6,000 images in total, there are illustrations of each species in flight and perched; additional illustrations show differences between age classes, seasonal plumages, and sexes.
- Audubon Bird Guide (free) covers over 800 species of birds in North America. You can share photos on the app and keep up with the latest news about birds—from conservation to outreach opportunities.
