Four color

"Part I outlines the habitats, ecology, and bird geography of the Rocky Mountains north of the New Mexico-Colorado border, including recent changes in the ecology and avifauna of the region. It provides detailed lists of major birding locations and guidance about where to search for specific Rocky Mountain birds. Part 2 considers all 328 regional species individually, with information on their status, habitats and ecology, suggested viewing locations, and population."--Back cover

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.

Travellers pass through one jaw-dropping landscape after another where the snowy San Juan Mountains meet the canyon and mesa country of the Colorado Plateau in southwestern Colorado. Yet this small but remarkably varied region also plainly reveals a history of hard use, including logging scars, mine-polluted rivers, and overgrazed grasslands and forests. In The Nature of Southwestern Colorado, Deborah D. Paulson and William L. Baker guide readers through this awe-inspiring land and its human legacies, describing in detail the ecology of its six sub-regions, showing readers how to recognise human influences on the flora and fauna, and discussing current trends. Although some of the policies and attitudes in southwestern Colorado continue to harm the natural world, a number of community projects suggest a promising future. Examining these trends, the authors search for signs of a new relationship between people and nature emerging here, one that enables people to protect, restore, and coexist with the wild.