This historic town is the county seat and cultural center of Huerfano County, and offers most any amenity. There are a couple of good areas for birding. One is the Masonic Cemetery, where you might find migrant landbirds in spring or fall. It is located in the northwest part of town and is reached by going west one block on Elm Street from its junction with Walsen Ave. at the Middle School. You might also bird along the Cucharas River, which provides some good riparian habitat. Most of its banks are privately owned, but some access can be reached on the west side of town. From US 160 go west to the City Park and turn left (south) on S. Ysidro Street. Cross the Cucharas River, and there will be a dirt road immediately on the left. This public road, over 1/2 mile in length, runs along the south side of the River. It can be walked or driven and eventually comes out on Main Street near the downtown area. There is a lot of access to the river on this road but if any properties are posted, please do no not trespass.
Spanish Peaks
Running the Gamut of Colorado Habitats
Following the Highway of Legends Scenic Byway for much of its length, and circumnavigating the stunning Spanish Peaks, this trail nearly runs the gamut of Colorado habitats. It includes landscapes as diverse as the rimrock canyons etched into the plains east of Walsenburg, the arid pinyon-juniper woods and riparian cottonwoods of Lathrop State Park, the subalpine firs and spruces on Cordova Pass, the oak-scrub hills of Bosque del Oso, and the vast open waters of Trinidad Lake. With such wildlife highlights as Dusky Grouse and Gray Jay in the mountains, roadrunners and raptors in the canyons, and pronghorns and jackrabbits on the high plains, this trail offers a little bit of every reason you could come to southeast Colorado.
Admission: State Parks Pass
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Admission: Free, Fee for Bear and Blue.
Ownership: US Forest Service
North Lake State Wildlife Area/North Fork Road
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. USFS camping fee for Angel and Shavano campground
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife and US Forest Service
Bosque del Oso 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
Spanish Peaks 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
Admission: State Parks Pass
Ownership: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Lake Dorothey 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
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
Lathrop State Park
The diverse habitat of this park, at the foot of the beautiful Spanish Peaks, makes it the best place in Huerfano County to find the widest variety of birds. Martin and Horseshoe Lakes are good-sized bodies of water where many good birds have been seen, including loons, swans and scoters. Around the lakes, riparian habitat abounds for good passerines. Dryland birds can also be found on either side of the lakes. On the north side, scan the hogback ridge for Greater Roadrunners & Pinyon Jays. There is a parking area and trail to the ridge on the north side of the park. On the south side of the lakes, there are good stands of yucca where Ladder-backed Woodpeckers can sometimes be found. An interpretive sign is located at the wildlife viewing pond. Other possible wildlife sightings include coyote, jackrabbit and bats on summer evenings. There are many other areas, both wet and dry, in the park too numerous to describe. It’s a great place to enjoy and explore.
La Veta
This small town about 16 miles west of Walsenburg has several public areas for birding. First, a Public Nature Area on the southeast corner of Garland & Birch is located east of CSH 12 which bisects the town. Second, the Town Lakes located just southeast of town are reached by going on Cuchara Street, located at the far south end of town just before CSH 12 bends west at a convenience store. Go east on Cuchara up the hill. The road bends south to the lakes about 1 mile from town. These lakes can be good for waterfowl and Bald Eagles in fall & winter. Finally, the Wahatoya State Wildlife Area east of town is reached on Moore Ave. just south of the railroad tracks which cross CSH 12. From the highway, go east on Moore about 6-7 blocks and watch for its junction with Spruce Street, which bends left. Stay on Moore up a hill and go a short distance (about 1 mile) to the wildlife area. Daigre Reservoir is on the left, and Wahatoya Lake is on the right side of the road.
MacDonald’s Reservoir
You may find some good birds on this pond and its marshes. The lake is private but easily viewed from the road. If you continue on this road for several miles, you’ll reach some dead ends in good scrub oak/ponderosa habitat. These areas might be explored for the locally rare Grace’s Warblers and Hepatic Tanagers, but please respect private property while exploring.
Wahatoya Valley
CR 360 parallels Wahatoya Creek up into its lovely valley. After about 4 miles on this road watch for a sign that marks a parking area and trailhead into the Spanish Peaks Wilderness Area. A day’s hike on this trail could turn up Dusky Grouse, Three-toed Woodpeckers, sapsuckers, snowshoe hares, pine squirrels, chipmunks, and other mountain specialties. Past the trailhead, the road drops into the dense spruce canyon of Cuchara-Wahatoya Camps. In winter the area is often only accesible by snowshoe, because the road is plowed to a point just before dropping into the camps. The camps are a delightful blend of old log cabins and big spruce and fir, where nuthatches and kinglets can be found. As you return to La Veta, look to the west where you can get good views (though distant) of the back side of the amazing Devil’s Stairsteps.
Devil’s Stairsteps
A good side trip is from La Veta to the towering monumental spine of rock known as the Devil’s Stairsteps. This formation extends for miles and the view is worth the trip. Golden Eagles, Prairie Falcons, and other raptors often perch and soar along the formation. It’s also a reliable place to view White-throated Swifts. CO 12 is a narrow winding road, so please find safe places to park and walk while viewing the Stairsteps.
Cucharas Creek Road
Some of the premier road-accessible high-elevation habitats in the county can be found along Cucharas Creek near Cucharas Pass. Willow and aspen habitats are well-represented along with spruce-fir forest. The road also provides access to a trailhead for the 13,517-foot Trinchera Peak, where ptarmigan may await the determined hiker. The road is partially closed in the winter, and there are lots of downed trees from wind.
Cordova Pass
In addition to providing some of the best road access to high-mountain forests in Las Animas County, this pass also provides magnificent views of the Spanish Peaks and the many dikes radiating out like spokes in a wheel. Practically all the normal high-elevation species can be found here, including Gray Jay, Dusky Grouse, and American Three-toed Woodpecker. Be aware driving this road is difficult in the winter months.
North Lake State Wildlife Area/North Fork Road
Besides the road over Cordova Pass, the only road in Las Animas County that accesses good high-elevation habitats is the North Fork Road (FR 34). Expect excellent willow tangles and aspen stands, along with some ponderosa, oak and mixed conifer habitats. The stream along the road (the north fork of the Purgatoire) has American Dippers, and birding along the road at night might produce Flammulated or Saw-whet Owls. Elk, deer, bear, pine marten, mink, and porcupines live in this area. While the road itself does not make it to the spruce-fir belt, from the campground at its end (fee area) one can continue on hiking trails to higher elevations and above treeline, with all the benefits thereof. Highway 12 through this area passes through amazing displays of fall color when the aspen leaves turn in October; summer is the time to tour the Cucharas Pass Wildflower Identification interpretive trail.
Stonewall area
Most of the land around this picturesque town is private, but birding from the roads can net you good numbers of ponderosa birds, including Plumbeous Vireo, Pygmy Nuthatch and Western Bluebird. Oak-scrub and some pinyon-juniper woodland can be found on the road to Tercio, just south of town. Just northeast of town is the small Russell Lake, which can be good for ducks during the spring and fall. Deer and elk can be common in the area.
Bosque del Oso State Wildlife Area
This huge state wildlife area is made up of pinyon-juniper woodland with some mixed-conifer on the north-facing slopes, and a few riparian groves along the Purgatoire River. Shrubland and oak habitats also abound. Look especially for the common Lewis’s Woodpeckers and Band-tailed Pigeons (summer) and for Wild Turkey. Raptors can include eagles, Northern Goshawk, Great Horned Owl, and possibly Northern Saw-whet and Western Screech-Owls. Bear and elk can also be seen here, as can mule deer, coyotes, and (rarely) bobcat or even mountain lion. Maps of the wildlife area are available at CDOW offices in Pueblo and Colorado Springs.
Spanish Peaks State Wildlife Area
Spanish Peaks State Wildlife Area is remote and beautiful. On the southern flank of its namesake mountains, it is similar to the nearby Bosque del Oso SWA, but possibly even more enticing. Four individual parcels of land make up this SWA, and it can be confusing to navigate between them; see the map on the orientation kiosk at the main entrance. Please be awaare the road between the Dockter Tract and the Sakariason Tract is not open to public travel. Pinyon-juniper, scrub-oak and Ponderosa birds can all be found here, including Western Scrub-, Pinyon and Steller’s Jays, Spotted Towhee, Bushtit, Mountain and Western Bluebirds, Lesser Goldfinch, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and all three nuthatches. Watch for turkey poults (chicks) in early summer, and for elk, mule deer, black bear, rock squirrels and jackrabbits. The Ponderosas also support a population of the scarce and beautiful Abert’s Squirrel, here at the southeasternmost limit of their range.
Trinidad Lake State Park
This is a state park and fee area with miles of hiking trails. Some waterbirds show up here in migration. Generally the best part of the lake is the shallower west side. Small flocks of both diving and dabbling ducks can usually be found, along with pelicans, gulls, and the occasional loon. When the water level is low, look for shorebirds on the resulting mudflats. On the south side of the reservoir is Long’s Canyon Watchable Wildlife Area, which is also part of the state park fee area. Here you will find a one-and-a-quarter mile trail through a wide pinyon-juniper canyon with a few cottonwoods along the bottom. Bird blinds look out over a marshy area where you are likely to spot muskrats, frogs and turtles in addition to marsh birds. An interpretive site along the trail interprets the K-T Boundary, the geological feature that marks the boundary between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.
Lake Dorothey State Wildlife Area
Little-visited and remote, this SWA and its neighbor, James M. John SWA, are the only two SWAs in Colorado that you must leave the state to access via road. Adjacent to Sugarite State Park in New Mexico, they can be a good place to bird ponderosa and mixed conifer woodland, and oak scrub. Look for Dusky Grouse, Lewis’ Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch, Western Tanager, Spotted and Green-tailed Towhees, and Virginia’s Warbler, as well as black bear, mule deer, pocket gopher, and mountain lion if you are extremely lucky. Elk can be quite common in the area. James M. John SWA can be visited only on foot or horseback, between April 2 and November 30; it is a primitive site that affords incredible views from the mesa on the back side of Fisher’s Peak.
Fishers Peak
The 19,200-acre property connects grasslands to the east with foothills and mountains to the west, serving as an important corridor for wildlife movement. Providing habitat for large native species like elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain lion and black bear, the property helps maintain important connections between these species’ populations in the mountains and those in the prairies.
Trinidad
Trinidad is a charming town with a historic downtown and all the amenities. The highlight of birding in town is the Purgatoire River trail, which follows the river through some nice riparian forest. The best stretch is east of downtown, downstream from the parking area on Linden Street. The city plans to extend the trail west all the way to Trinidad Lake.
Welch Ranch
This spectacular ranch charges an entrance fee of $10 per person per day. It includes the north end of the Apishapa Canyon, which is worth a visit just for the scenery, as it is 200-300 feet deep along this stretch. There are only a few cottonwoods in the bottom of the canyon, but the fact that the river here flows nearly year-round makes for excellent birding potential in this arid country. Raptors nest in the canyon, and Black Phoebe is a definite possibility. The northern part of the ranch has prairie-dog towns with breeding Burrowing Owls. Keep an eye out for Greater Roadrunner and Scaled Quail in addition to deer, coyote and other mammals.
Rancho Largo
This private working ranch, operated by Grady Grissom, has many attractions for the visiting birder that make it well worth the $10 entrance fee. There is a seasonal playa, which holds water approximately every other spring, that can be excellent for migratory waterbirds. There’s high-quality grassland with breeding Long-billed Curlews. There’s a fascinating and scenic canyon with eroded sandstone geology, some permanent waterholes with associated deciduous growth, excellent cholla with Curve-billed Thrasher, and plenty of pinyon-juniper. You are likely to see pronghorn and deer, among other mammals. The Grissoms also maintain an extremely nice two-bedroom, two-bathroom guest house that can be rented for $125 per night–$25 of which is a cleaning deposit recoverable if you leave the place in good shape. In addition, Grady offers half-day ranch tours for an additional fee, on which he shares his vast knowledge of agriculture and geology.
Apishapa State Wildlife Area
Deep canyons, abundant pinyon-juniper woodland, some riparian groves, and even good grassland characterize this remote State Wildlife Area. It provides a great opportunity to view bighorn sheep in an unbelievably scenic and rugged prairie setting. With some hiking through the rough terrain birds such as Rock and Canyon Wrens, Canyon Towhee, Bushtit, and Juniper Titmouse can be found. The lowland riparian along the river bottom should be checked for migrants. In season Common Poorwills and Great Horned Owls serenade the hardy camper to sleep. A myriad of reptiles and amphibians can be found in the area, including rattlesnakes and even soft-shelled turtles in the river; and during certain days in the fall tatantulas can be seeing migrating across the road. Some Native American rock art can be found along the canyon rims.
Tim Williams Ranch
Tim Williams’ Ranch in northwest Las Animas County specializes in open pinyon-juniper forest and rimrock. There’s lots of Rufous-crowned Sparrow habitat here, and maybe you could turn up a Gray Vireo or some other low-density pinyon-juniper breeder. A seasonal pond on the property (dry as of fall 2005) usually covers between 12 and 200 acres in non-drought years, and could be a haven for waterbird life when full. Look on the ranch for Greater Roadrunner, Scaled Quail, Burrowing Owl and maybe even Mountain Plover. At least one of the canyons has had nesting Golden Eagles in non-drought years. In addition to the bird potential, this ranch has some of the finest dinosaur tracks this author has ever seen. Access to the ranch costs $10 per person per day. Visitors are advised to avoid times of heavy work on the ranch (Memorial Day weekend, late August, and the first two weeks of October through about mid-November).