The northwestern corner of Colorado isn’t really known for abundant water, so any moisture in the dry sage flats and pinyon-juniper tend to be magnets for wildlife. Oxbow Wildlife Area is no exception, especially during the fall, when it is the best location on this trail for shorebirds. In addition to mudflats present when water levels are low, there is a good marsh with Yellow-headed Blackbird, rails, and dabbling ducks. After the spring lekking season, keep an eye out for Greater Sage-Grouse coming to the oxbow to take a drink. The sage flats you walk through to get to the oxbow are full of Sage Sparrow and Sage Thrashers, as well as Brewer’s and Lark Sparrows.
Browns Park
Colorado’s Last Frontier
It’s five hours to Browns Park from Denver by car, but it might as well be fifty. The few people who venture as far as the state’s northwesternmost corner are richly rewarded. Here you will find the magnificent Gates of Lodore, where the Green River enters the soaring canyon that cuts through Dinosaur National Monument. To the north is Irish Canyon, even less traveled, where Canyon Wrens and Chukars can be found alongside ancient petroglyphs. In between is Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge, a surprising oasis of green in this arid land, where ducks, shorebirds, and other water-loving wildlife congregate yearround. This is a land of jackrabbits and mule deer, Sage Sparrows and Pinyon Jays, rough dirt roads and precious few signs of civilization – a wonderful place to experience Colorado’s natural beauty.
Admission: Beginning May 1, 2021, a valid Hunting license, Fishing license, OR State Wildlife Area Pass is required for everyone 16 or older accessing any State Wildlife Area or State Trust Land.
Ownership: State Trust Land Board
Dinosaur National Monument (Gates of Lodore)
Admission: National Parks fee
Ownership: National Park Service
Dry Mountain Road
While northwestern Colorado is filled with pinyon-juniper woodland, this road into BLM land passes through some of the highest quality ‘PJ’ in the county. You could see any of the birds which call this habitat home, from Pinyon Jay to Juniper Titmouse to Black-throated Gray Warbler. Common Poorwills are around during the summertime, in case you’re passing through at night or camping here. Sage flats pepper some of the draws and forest edges, and Brewer’s, Sage, and Lark Sparrows, Sage Thrasher, and perhaps Greater Sage-Grouse are found here as well.
Douglas Mountain
Douglas Mountain is the only location in this part of Colorado where you can bird Ponderosa pine woodland. This also means it’s the only place in this part of Colorado where you can see birds like Pygmy Nuthatch and Western Bluebird. Other possible species include Williamson’s Sapsucker, Wild Turkey, Red Crossbill, and Townsend’s Solitaire.
Dinosaur National Monument (Gates of Lodore)
The Gates of Lodore may be Colorado’s greatest undiscovered scenic gem. Here the Green River, already beautiful all on its own, cuts right into Diamond Mountain, creating a giant red gateway into a sheer, precipitous canyon, all surrounded by gorgeous pinyon-juniper forest. It’s a site worth coming to for the landscape alone, but luckily the birding can also be good. The drive in passes through some riparian habitat, where species like Yellow-breasted Chat and Lazuli Bunting can be found, before coming to a campground and short trail surrounded by pinyon-juniper. Here look for Juniper Titmouse, Pinyon Jay, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Gray Flycatcher, among others. This is one of the best places in Colorado to see the cliff chipmunk, a species rare in the state.
Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge
Browns Park is an extensive area of wetlands and riparian habitat located on the Utah border at the west end of Highway 318. There is a self-guided tour of the refuge. A hunting blind (which is accessible to people with disabilities) on the largest pond along the auto-tour route is a great place to scan for ducks; during migration many hundreds of individuals of many species can be seen here. Browns Park NWR is also probably the best place in the state to see Tundra Swans, as their migration route just clips this remote corner of Colorado. Willow thickets along the river by the auto tour loop host breeding Willow Flycatchers, and the cottonwoods along various drainages may be good for migrants.
By heading over the unique (in Colorado) Swinging Bridge you can access many extremely remote and wonderful draws that very, very few people ever see. These draws are filled with pinyon-juniper and thick manzanita woodland found nowhere else in Colorado, and all the typical ‘PJ’ species can be found in the area. The road on the south side of the Green River here also allows for scanning of some additional shallow ponds and marshes, which are great places to look for more ducks and shorebirds, including Black-necked Stilt (which breeds here).
The NWR headquarters, which are reached by heading south from CO 318 just west of the entrance to the auto loop, usually have hummingbird feeders up, with many Black-chinned Hummingbirds all summer, and Rufous, Calliope, and Broad-tailed in August and September. The brushy draw below the headquarters is excellent for land birds, including breeding Yellow-breasted Chat, Virginia’s Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and many others.
A final location to check in the area is the Browns Park Store, which is reached by turning north off of CO 318 east of the NWR. The hummingbird feeders here can be productive as well.
Irish Canyon
Rising up out of the sage flats, Limestone Ridge is a dramatic feature cut by the even more dramatic Irish Canyon. Covered in high quality pinyon-juniper, mixed with abundant cliffs and rocks, Irish Canyon is the best place in northwestern Colorado to look for Chukar, which are easy to hear in the spring but more difficult to find at other times of year. The typical ‘PJ’ birds are also present, and a nighttime visit could produce a Common Poorwill or Northern Saw-whet Owl. Be sure not to miss the Native American petroglyphs at the southern end of the canyon, complete with interpretive signs.
Diamond Peak area
If you want to get away from it all, then this is a great area to do it. This area is as far northwest as one can get in Colorado, and is extremely rarely visited. A number of isolated mountains rise out of the valley here. Diamond Peak has thick mixed conifer woodland and aspen groves where most species of such habitat can be found, including Dusky Grouse and Red Crossbill. Most of the land in the valley is dense sagebrush, with Greater Sage-Grouse a possibility. The Wiggins unit of the Browns Park SWA, against the Utah border west of Diamond peak contains dense limber pine woodland, aspen groves, and brushy thickets. Birds like Orange-crowned Warbler, Red-naped Sapsucker, Cassin’s Finch, and Hammond’s and Dusky Flycatchers can be found here. Elk are common in the area, and if you come here in the fall you have a good chance to catch them bugling.