One of the many good things about living at the base of a mountain range is that a whole series of life zones lie within a short distance. Each life zone has its own unique population of flora and fauna and, for the naturalist, there's nothing more inviting. Birders are especially rewarded by such geography and the Colorado Front Range is certainly one of the better bird watching areas in the country.
Facing another day in the 90s, I decided to head for higher and cooler terrain, leaving our Littleton farm just before 7 AM. My first stop was at Deer Creek Canyon Park, southwest of Denver; its parking area and lower trails lie within the foothill shrublands at an elevation of 6100 feet (700 feet higher than our farm). There I saw many of the species that typify that zone: black-headed grosbeaks, rufous-sided and green-tailed towhees, lesser goldfinches, rock wrens, lazuli buntings and white-throated swifts, among others. Driving up the Canyon road to U.S. 285, I turned north for a short distance and took the Parmalee Gulch Road to Mt. Falcon Park, which sits at 7800 feet between Turkey Creek and Bear Creek Canyons. This is an excellent area to observe birds of the Transition Zone (Montane) Forest; today was no exception. Among the residents are mountain chickadees, pygmy nuthatches, pine siskins, violet-green swallows, Steller's jays, Townsend's solitaires, western tanagers and both mountain and western bluebirds. The highlight of this stop was a pair of broad-tailed hummingbirds that kept buzzing a loggerhead shrike; perched atop a ponderosa pine, he was apparently too close for their comfort.
Descending to the Bear Creek Valley, I watched a pair of dippers at the Kittredge town park and then headed through Evergreen on Colorado 74. A few miles north of town is the turnoff to Colorado 103, which climbs westward to Echo Lake and Mt. Evans. After passing Elk Meadow, the road winds up through the forest, entering the Subalpine Zone. A large, aspen-lined clearing at 9200 feet is a good place to stop for some birding; this morning I found yellow-rumped warblers, chipping sparrows, mountain chickadees, red crossbills and a pair of pine grosbeaks. Further up, the road skirts the north flank of Squaw and Chief Mountains, providing a spectacular view of the Continental Divide. Picnic areas along this road are always rewarding for birders; gray jays, Clark's nutcrackers and dark-eyed juncos (gray-headed race) were today's primary visitors.
Echo Lake sits at 10,600 feet near the junction with the Mt. Evans toll road. The trees and shrubs around the lake are usually good for Wilson's warblers and Lincoln's sparrows but I took a pass, paid my $10 toll and headed up the highest paved road in the lower 48. At timberline, the Mt. Goliath Bristlecone Pine area is another hotspot for birders; white-crowned sparrows, mountain bluebirds, red crossbills and pine siskins dominated the show today. Another six miles across the scenic tundra (watch for marmots, bighorn sheep and mountain goats) brings you to Summit Lake, tucked in a cirque at 12,830 feet. American pipits are common here and it is one of the best sites in the country to find brown-capped rosy finches (I saw five this morning). Ravens soar along the sheer cliffs, pikas call from the boulder fields and, if you're lucky, you might spot a white-tailed ptarmigan on the flower-laden tundra.
