Barr Lake State Park, northeast of Denver, is the undisputed capitol of birding in Colorado. Home to the Colorado Bird Observatory, this Park has recorded more bird species than any other location in the State. Early May is one of the best times to visit; most summer residents have arrived and migrants are still moving across the Plains, heading for the mountains or more northern breeding areas.
Centered on a large irrigation reservoir, this State Park is a mosaic of grasslands, marsh, riparian woods and open lake waters; an earthen trail encircles the reservoir and several boardwalks take visitors across the adjacent wetlands. Bald eagles, cormorants, western grebes and several herons nest here and American white pelicans summer on the lake. Regular migrants and visitors include snowy egrets, white-faced ibis, ospreys, Wilson's phalaropes and a wide variety of waterfowl, gulls, terns and shorebirds.
Woodlands along the southern and eastern shores of the reservoir fill with songbirds by early May. Northern orioles, house wrens, common yellowthroats and yellow warblers are especially common; migrants include Swainson's thrushes, Wilson's warblers, white-crowned sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers. Eastern and western kingbirds, black-billed magpies, Swainson's hawks, ring-necked pheasants, blue grosbeaks, western meadowlarks and loggerhead shrikes inhabit the Park's grasslands, where red fox and coyotes are often seen at dawn or dusk.
