Mile High

Many of Denver’s greenbelts are beautiful riparian corridors with established bike and walking paths, but none are quite as impressive as the Bear Creek Greenbelt, one of the best forested creek-lines in the metro area. You would even be forgiven for thinking you were in the eastern US while walking along it! Therefore, the potential for migrants is quite high, and a spring or fall visit could be quite productive. Summertime has fewer total species, but you could still find Great Horned and Eastern Screech Owls (at night), Bullock’s Oriole, Yellow-breasted Chat, Western Kingbird, and Lazuli Bunting, among others.

In winter, overall activity is much lower, but sparrow flocks are still around, and this would be a good place to scan through White-crowned Sparrows for one of the rarer possibilities such as Harris’s Sparrow. The greenbelt is also well connected to the trail network that criss-crosses the Denver area, so you could combine this area with several other sites reachable by bicycle if you want to make a longer day of exploring.

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The Bear Creek Greenbelt has one of the best riparian corridors within the city limits, and is an excellent place to spend a spring or fall morning walking or while on a bike ride. Like many greenbelts in the city, the site is connected to a large bike trail system, and you can spend as much time as you like exploring the area without ever having to get in a vehicle. The summer months tend to be a bit quieter, but local breeders like Yellow-breasted Chat and Lazuli Bunting are possible. Great Horned Owl is around all year, and a nighttime visit may turn up an Eastern Screech-Owl.

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Close to downtown, this small lake ringed with trees is in the middle of an urban open space, but can attract surprising birds. Look for ducks in the colder months, and in migration, hope for a wandering prairie bird like a Loggerhead Shrike or a Lark Bunting; they aren’t normally found in the city, but occasionally stop here due to the open habitat. This natural area is connected by trails to the adjacent Northside Park and the bike path along the South Platte River.

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Denver’s large and impressive City Park is more than just a park – it is also home to the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, both well worth a visit in their own right. The park itself is a cornucopia of beautiful trees and several productive ponds. The best birding tends to be along the nature trail around Duck Pond, where breeding colonies of Black-crowned Night-Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, and Snowy Egret are occupied during the spring and summer, and the abundant trees can have migrants in season. City Park Lake is also worth a check for a variety of waterfowl, including often tame Wood Ducks. During winter, flocks of sparrows and sometimes finches can be found, and the park, not surprisingly, is also a good place to look for the typical suite of urban birds. Note: although the park is open daily from 5 AM to 11 PM, the gates allowing cars to enter are closed on Sundays (May through September), and occasionally during special events.

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Cheesman Park is another large city park with old trees and lots of potential for migrant birds. In some winters, the stands of coniferous trees can contain flocks of finches, and they could host roosting owls at any time of year. Across the road, the Denver Botanic Gardens are worth visiting just for the extensive and fascinating variety of plant life, but they can also be quite birdy at almost any time of year.

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Washington Park is full of old, large, and downright impressive trees, and should be checked at any time of year for a variety of birds. Perhaps most productive during migration, when you never know what could show up, they can also be worth a look in the winter when flocks of finches sometimes visit. In summertime, the two ponds in the park are usually full of paddleboats, but during colder months are more likely to have ducks, especially the late fall. Look especially for tame Wood Ducks and the occasional Hooded Merganser.

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This large cemetery is covered in beautifully old and impressive trees, especially conifers. And unlike most trees in such places, they aren’t trimmed close to the ground, providing more cover than in most urban parks and cemeteries. Look especially for finches in the winter, when birds such as Red Crossbill, Cassin’s Finch, and even the occasional Evening Grosbeak are possible (but don’t expect any particular species in any particular year). During spring and fall, any number of migrant species could occur, and this seems to be an especially good place to look for Townsend’s Warbler during the fall. You may even want to join Denver Field Ornithologists on a free guided bird walk they offer here (which they also offer at Riverside Cemetery in North Denver).

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The Aurora-Kelley Reservoir on Westerly Creek is a large flood control area in the Lowry neighborhood of Denver. Behind the dam, you can find an extensive permanent cattail marsh and gravel/dirt walking trails. Look in season for White-faced Ibis and Yellow-headed Blackbird, both hard to find in the area. Common birds include Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Killdeer, and Snowy Egret. It’s also a good spot for grebes, phalaropes, swallows, and sparrows. Continue walking to Great Lawn Park, where two small ponds also attract a diversity of waterfowl and other birds. Note: Amenities listed can be found at Great Lawn Park.

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Along the Sand Creek Greenbelt, Bluff Lake Nature Center makes for an excellent place to spend a morning and check out a number of different habitats. Perhaps the best of these is a truly excellent marsh, with Virginia Rail and Sora, Marsh Wren, and maybe even American Bittern. The riparian corridor along the greenbelt is well worth checking for migrants, in season, while the lake itself often has a variety of ducks that can include Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teals, Hooded Merganser, and Canvasback, among others. Note: dogs are not allowed at this property.

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The Sand Creek Greenway, connected to the larger Denver-area bike trail system, has some of the best riparian corridors in the area. The Greenway is the perfect spot to enjoy a longer bike ride or walk without going too far from the city. The woodland here should be checked for a variety of migrants during spring and fall, and for birds like Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Yellow-breasted Chat, Bullock’s Oriole, and Lazuli Bunting in the summer. Wintertime tends to be slower, but flocks of sparrows sometimes haunt the thickets, and Great Horned Owl can be found all year.

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This small park with a tiny pond doesn’t typically attract a huge variety of birds, but the Jewell Wetlands adjacent to it, with its well laid-out boardwalk, has some of the best access to marshland in the area. Look for Virginia Rail and Sora, Marsh Wren, and (with a good deal of luck), the occasional American Bittern.

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Well-connected to the Denver area bike-trail system, the High Line Canal Trail is, in terms of habitat, probably the best path throughout the city. The portions further south are discussed separately, but the Denver portion makes for a good morning bike ride or walk if you’re staying in the city. The mile-and-a-half stretch of the High Line Canal west of Havana and east of Valentia may be the best birding area along the canal in Denver. Almost continuous large cottonwoods line this stretch, supplemented by adjacent tall trees in many yards with, in some places, good undergrowth tangles. A natural area just southeast of the trail’s junction with Valentia is not open to the public, but can be partially birded from the trail side of the fence.

You can read about author Robert Michael Pyle’s adventures growing up along the High Line Canal in The Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland.

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