Birding The Front Range

Colorado's Front Range is one of the best birdwatching areas in North America. Within a span of 40 miles, elevations range from 5,000 to 14,000 feet, representing five distinct life zones. Birders can spend the morning watching grebes, pelicans and egrets in the South Platte Valley and, by afternoon, search for pipits and ptarmigan on the alpine tundra. This guide, designed primarily for beginning bird watchers and for those visiting our region, places emphasis on the natural habitats of the Front Range and on birding highlights that occur throughout the year. Chapter I describes the Front Range life zones while Chapter II guides birders through the seasons, ensuring exposure to a wide variety of species. Chapter III provides a checklist of Front Range birds, including a time and place for finding each species, and the book's Appendix lists regional conservation organizations that are working to protect our vital wildlife habitats. Book jacket.

These attractive guides identify the birds most likely to be seen in your city's backyards, streets and parks. Introduces the fascinating and popular pastime of bird-watching. Includes advice on building feeders and birdhouses. Color illustrations help you identify birds quickly while the text provides interesting information about each bird. These books are easy-to-use references for the urban birdwatcher.

Over 500 species of birds live in or visit Colorado and most can been seen along the Front Range.

"In this elegant narrative, celebrated naturalist Ted Floyd guides you through a year of becoming a better birder. Choosing 200 top avian species to teach key lessons, Floyd introduces a new, holistic approach to bird watching and shows how to use the tools of the 21st century to appreciate the natural world we inhabit together whether city, country or suburbs." -- From book jacket.

Colorado has a wonderful diversity of birds, offering exciting specialties and serendipitous finds to birders from every part of the continent. Most people associate Colorado with its Rocky Mountains - easily accessible right up to the tundra in every season of the year. Winter-plumaged White-tailed Ptarmigan, the same color as snow - as shown in the author's cover photograph from Guanella Pass - is high on any birder's wish list, but on the way up to see it, you will also find the three species of rosy-finch and an excellent variety of jays, woodpeckers, and winter finches. The Rockies is but one of the bird habitats for which Colorado is well known. The Eastern Plains, at their best on Pawnee National Grassland, offer such breeding specialties as Mountain Plover and McCown's and Chestnut-collared Longspurs. In April you may watch Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens on their strutting grounds. The Western Plateaus and Valleys, which comprise the western third of Colorado, have their own specialties - Sage and Sharp-tailed Grouse, Chukar Gray Vireo, Black-throated and Crace's Warblers, and many more.

Collects photographs, range maps, and descriptive entries identifying the markings, habits, habitat, and voice of each species.

From the renowned author of the New York Times best seller The Sibley Guide to Birds, a comprehensive, beautifully illustrated guide to identifying birds in the field. Sibley's Birding Basics is an essential companion for birders of all skill and experience levels. With Sibley as your guide, learn how to interpret what the feathers, the anatomical structure, the sounds of a bird tell you. When you know the clues that show you why there’s no such thing as, for example, “just a duck” birding will be more fun, and more meaningful. An essential addition to the Sibley shelf! The Sibley Guide to Birds and The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior are both universally acclaimed as the new standard source of species information. And now David Sibley, America’s premier birder and best-known bird artist, turns his attention to the general characteristics that influence the appearance of all birds, unlocking the clues to their identity. In 200 beautifully rendered illustrations and 16 essays, this scientifically precise volume distills the essence of Sibley’s own experience and skills, providing a solid introduction to “naming” the birds. Birding Basics reviews how one can get started as a birder—the equipment necessary, where and when to go birding, and perhaps most important, the essential things to look for when birds appear in the field—as well as the basic concepts of bird identification and the variations that can change the appearance of a bird over time or in different settings. Sibley also provides critical information on the aspects of avian life that differ from species to species: feathers (color, arrangement, shape, molt), behavior and habitat, and sounds.

Nearly everyone loves butterflies. We watch them because they're exquisitely beautiful, but they also have magical life cycles and intricate relationships among their host ecosystems. Are you overwhelmed by the array of possibilities in field guides that cover a broad geographic range? This user-friendly book focuses on 100 frequently seen species in the Colorado Front Range. Easily identify butterflies using over 120 striking color photos of individuals in their natural setting, and clear descriptions of both males and females. Each entry also includes that species habitat and life cycle, the caterpillar s host plants, and look-alike butterflies. The introduction includes tips on where to find butterflies, how to get close to them, and what we can do to attract them to our gardens and preserve their sensitive habitats.

A straightforward approach getting good, then better, at identifying birds in the field-and having fun doing it.

From prairies to peaktops, Colorado attracts an intriguing mix of birds, from Mountain Plovers to Rosy-Finches and Lazuli Buntings to Black Swifts. Birders from all over the country visit Colorado to see western and prairie specialties in scenic splendor. Birding Colorado lists likely birds at each site. A 15-page Appendix lists status and distribution of all the species recorded in the state. Take this book along as you visit treeless prairies in Pawnee National Grassland; cottonwood stream bottoms along the major rivers that rise in Colorado (North and South Platte, Republican, Arkansas, Rio Grande, San Juan, Colorado, and Yampa/Green); pinyon-clad mesas of southeastern and western Colorado; chasms, mesas, and mountains in four national parks (Black Canyon, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and Rocky Mountain); marshes, ponds, and streams in four national wildlife refuges (Arapaho, Browns Park, Alamosa, and Monte Vista); incomparable mountain, mesa, and prairie highways and byways. Or simply use it for a day or two during a ski vacation, family outing, or urban visit.