The largest town in Kiowa County is a good spot to stop for lunch or as a base for birding the area. While here, there are a couple of good spots to check out. The small town park should be checked for migrants. The waste water lagoons, just just south of town, are private protery and no access is allowed. South and west of the waste water lagoons is Jackson’s Pond, a natural recreation site including, hiking, biking, wildlife viewing, fishing and more. Look for waterfowl, deer, kingfisher, raptors, shorebirds and more wildlife along the shore of the pond and Kiowa Creek at this site.
Snow Goose
Spectacular Birding Year Round
The playa lakes and manmade reservoirs of this section of Southeast Colorado are magnets for waterbirds of every stripe. Plovers, sandpipers, cranes, egrets, grebes, gulls, terns and ducks all congregate here in huge numbers in migration, and the waterfowl (including tens of thousands of Snow and Ross’s Geese) stay all winter, to star as the main attraction in Lamar’s annual Snow Goose Festival. Summer brings breeding grassland birds like Dickcissel, Mountain Plover and Ferruginous Hawk. A Burrowing Owl might pop out of any prairie-dog burrow. Year-round residents include Ring-necked Pheasants, pronghorns and coyote. At any season of the year, the Snow Goose trail is sure to produce.
Nee Gronde Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
Admission: A valid hunting or fishing license, or State Wildlife Area pass is required for everyone 16 or older accessing any state wildlife area or state trust lands.
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Nee So Pah Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
Admission: A valid hunting or fishing license or a State Wildlife Area Pass is required for everyone 16 or older to access any State Wildlife Area or State Trust Land leased by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Nee Noshee Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
Admission: A valid hunting or fishing license, or State Wildlife Area pass is required for everyone 16 or older accessing any state wildlife area or state trust lands.
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Neeskah Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
Admission: A valid hunting or fishing license, or State Wildlife Area pass is required for everyone 16 or older accessing any state wildlife area or state trust lands.
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Thurston Reservoir State Wildlife Area
Admission: A valid hunting or fishing license, or State Wildlife Area pass is required for everyone 16 or older accessing any state wildlife area or state trust lands.
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Kit Carson
Kit Carson can be a surprisingly good birding town. Its shade trees can attract migrants; the best trees are in the southwest quadrant of town, and on the east edge of town north of US 40. Just southeast of town on both sides of CR 20 is an enormous prairie dog town which has Burrowing Owls in summer. A little farther south on CR 20, a bridge crosses Big Sandy Creek (usually dry). All the land is private, so be sure to bird only from the bridge, which will put you at mid-tree level in a tall cottonwood forest. Look and listen here (mostly in summer) for Eastern Bluebird, Red-headed Woodpecker, Orchard and Bullock’s Orioles, Eastern and Western Kingbirds, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, Great Crested Flycatcher, Chimney Swifts, and migrant flocks in season. The private sagelands south of the creek along the road are home to Scaled Quail, Cassin’s Sparrow and Lark Bunting, but again you must bird from the road. Rattlesnakes, coyotes and skunks may be seen in the area, not to mention the ubiquitous pronghorn! Approximately 30-50 wild turkeys call Kit Carson home from fall to early spring. You’ll see a mix of Merriam’s, Rio Grande, and hybrids of the two.
Cheyenne Wells
This is the county seat and largest town in Cheyenne County. It has a number of trees which can produce birds like Eurasian Collared-Dove and Great-tailed Grackle as well as the occasional good migrant. Northern Harriers soar above nearby open fields. Large flocks of migrating Lark Bunting can be found along county road surrounding town. Food, lodging and gas can be found here.
Cheyenne CR M
This 9-mile stretch of Cheyenne County Road M accesses some nice prairie habitat. All of it is privately owned, so please remain on the road. Look especially for Dickcissel and Mountain Plover and various species of raptors are often seen in this area. Begin at the intersection of US-385 and CR M (4 miles south of Cheyenne Wells), and bird your way west for 9 miles until CR 36.
Cheyenne CR 40
The first 3 miles of County Road 40 south of County Road G is dryland farm ground. There is some nice remnant of shortgrass prairie 2 miles south of the intersection of County Road 40 and County Road C for about 2 miles, then it returns to dryland farm ground. Burrowing Owl, Long-billed Curlew and Grasshopper Sparrow all breed here, but the land ownership is private, so please stay on the roads.
Nee Gronde Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
This is large reservoir that can be quite productive, especially in winter, when huge flocks of geese and large numbers of Bald Eagles can congregate here. A trail leads down to a viewing blind at Mud Lake to the northeast with interpretive signage. Other wildlife in the area include pronghorn, white-tailed deer, rabbits, foxes, and snakes and other reptiles.
Nee So Pah Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
The westernmost of this group of reservoirs. Depending on water levels, it can be good for waterbirds, shorebirds, or gulls. The grassland along the road on the western side of the reservoir is quite good, and in season you may see Horned Larks, longspurs, Mountain Plovers, coyotes, jackrabbits and deer here. There are no trails to access this site. Bring a scope to scan the reservoir from the road. This reservoir was empty in 2021.
Nee Noshee Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
Nee Noshee Reservoir is the largest of these reservoirs. When the water level is low this can be a great location for shorebirds, and waterbird numbers are often quite good as well. The weedy brush along the south shore is quite good for sparrows, and sometimes Long-eared Owls. The grove on the western side of the lake, known as the ‘Locust Grove,’ is smaller than it once was but may still yield migrants. To reach Locust Grove, turn left just before the bathroom structure and parking lot and follow the gravel road to the west around as it swings around the southwest corner of the lake. Park where the northbound road is approached most closely by a grove of locusts and brush pushing west from the cottonwoods along the lakeshore. This is the Locust Grove. To scan the water of Nee Noshee, drive to the southern parking lot, and then drive north ‘into’ the reservoir, until you reach the water. In recent years this requires a drive of a mile or more.
Neeskah Reservoir (Queens State Wildlife Area)
Neeskah Reservoir, also known as Upper Queens Reservoir, is probably the reservoir in the area that gets the most shorebirds. When the water level is low enough to create mudflats, be sure to check the western edge of the lake via the multitude of access points. Neeskah can also be good for ducks, gulls, and an astounding number of Black Terns, in season. The riparian grove on the southern end of the reservoir can be well worth a stop for migrants and nesting Barn Owls. Lower Queens Reservoir (access closed from Dec 1-end of waterfowl season), just to the south, is usually better for waterbirds than shorebirds. The trees around the small parking lot can have migrants, and Cattle Egrets sometimes inhabit the nearby fields, along with coyotes, badgers, rattlesnakes and tarantulas.
Thurston Reservoir State Wildlife Area
Thurston is one of the only bodies of water in Prowers County. In recent years it has run low (even dry) and large parts of it have grown up in cattails. However, this makes good habitat for rails and bitterns, and ducks still swim in the open channels. Nearby fields can attract huge flocks of Sandhill Cranes in migration, and there are sometimes thousands of Snow Geese here in the winter. Pronghorn are sometimes numerous in the area. Look also for mule and white-tailed deer, coyotes, red fox, rabbits and prairie dogs.