Summer in the high country of Colorado means cool and crisp mornings, warm and sunny afternoons, and baby birds galore. Oh, and moose. Our early August Reefs to Rockies trip to North Park provided all those things and a whole lot more.
The three-day adventure began just west of Denver on a Friday morning, when guide Carly Crow and a group of intrepid travelers climbed into a custom safari van dubbed the Roaming Bison and headed straight to the mountains. A stop at the majestic Berthoud Pass gave a first taste of Rocky Mountain birding, with gems like broad-tailed hummingbirds, pine siskin, mountain-chickadee, and mountain bluebirds dutifully tending to their nest.
After soaking in the Rockies, the group headed down to Rand, CO where they enjoyed seeing the first of many sagebrush vistas and the scars of an ancient glacier that once covered North Park. There were many new birds also to be found including four species of swallow (barn, violet-green, cliff, and tree) and our first American kestrel.
The group made their way up to Walden We raised the pop-top of the van and spent the next few hours soaking in the landscape in true safari style. The group was greeted by many sparrows, rafts of waterfowl, family groups of Swainson’s hawks, and a cow moose at the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Other mammalian highlights included the range-limited white-tailed prairie dog, Wyoming ground squirrel, and American pronghorn.
During our time at Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge we used multiple citizen science apps – eBird, Merlin, iNat, and Seek – as part of a volunteer project focused on environmental education through wildlife observation.
Evening brought nighthawks, a surprise Williamson sapsucker, and dinner. The next morning, we returned to exploring and enjoying the Walden area. North Park supports diverse wildlife habitats, including sagebrush steppe uplands, grassland meadows, willow riparian areas, and wetlands. In other words, there was a lot to see (and eBird and iNat). A bull moose delighted us when we spotted him lurking in the willow. A silk moth caterpillar was spotted from the van – the biggest caterpillar anyone in the group had ever seen. More baby birds than could be counted with the time the group had. Arguably the most impressive was a golden eagle sitting on a post right next to the road.
On the final evening the group opted for one more drive in the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge to soak in the sunset and gorgeous rain clouds drifting in. In the light of dusk, a long-tailed weasel came out to hunt in the white-tailed prairie dog colony. It searched burrow after burrow for over 10 minutes – and even brought its prey above ground before retreating from the gaze of the sentries. Unbothered by the van, the weasel checked out the road for any prey it could find before slipping back into the sagebrush. It was truly a spectacle that left the group speechless.
The final morning was spent enjoying Walden Reservoir which proved just as fruitful with loads of eared and western grebes, rafts of ducks of several species, two species of phalaropes, avocets, coots, cormorants, pelicans, gulls, terns, herons, and ibises. The sheer numbers of water birds on and around this reservoir at this time of year is mesmerizing. Forster’s terns still in breeding plumage treated us with amazing hunting views. Our route back to Denver took us to Cameron Pass and down through Poudre Canyon, and we picked up a few more montane species including a rufous hummingbird and orange-crowned warbler.
Pleasant weather, great company, and lots of birds and other wildlife made this a memorable tour through north-central Colorado. We cannot wait to do it again in August 2026!
