Visiting Denver

[Paul Lima]

Hello, my name is Paul Lima. I am an avid birder and photographer that will be visiting Denver on business November 4th. I am hoping someone can help me with some places to go birding in the area. I will be in the area for 3 or 4 days and would love to do some birding whilst I am there.

I am especially interested in photographing Eagles. I have none in my portfolio and I really want one.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you might be able to provide and I hope to hear from you soon.

Paul Lima
Lima's Photography

www.limasphoto.com

[Petro]

Welcome to Anything Raptor. Getting pictures of wild eagles in early November will not be easy. You never mentioned how much time you have for just hanging out, which may make a big difference. The Barr Lake bald eagles are around, but not easy to predict this time of the year. Visiting balds from northern latitudes are not here yet in any significant numbers. Golden Eagles can be spotted, but you really have to spend some time on the prairie habitats or up in the mountains, so your interest for photos is entirely dependent on how much time you have to search out those areas, and that means some serious geography to cover.

[Paul Lima]

i arrive in Denver on Saturday the 1st at 1100, and do not have to be in training until Tuesday morning at 0800 at the Crown Plaza. I have a rental SUV and camera. Food and sleep is a luxury. Will travel as much as i need too for great photos, as long as i make my class on Tuesday!!

How far is Barr Lake? or the Prairie habitats?

I have a feeling I will be like a kid in a candy store when I get there. I am hoping to have some sort of plan on where to go to photograph birds, wildlife, scenery, etc.

thanks for the reply, hoping you can still give me more.

Paul
www.limasphoto.com

[Petro]

Barr Lake is 30 minutes northeast of downtown Denver along highway 76. Use any of the mapping sites for directions. This is a state park so they will charge you one day access or whatever...If you bypass the park and just head further down 76 that will take you into the general direction of many different opportunities to see raptors of all sorts (our wintering population) including ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks, prairie falcons and merlins. Red-tailed hawks are very common. Head for the Pawnee Grasslands if you have time. If your focus is truly just on eagles, then I would head north on I-25 to the Casper, Wyoming area (about 4 hours drive) where you are almost guaranteed of seeing Golden Eagles. Around the north, west and south sides of the city, I have personally seen a dozen of the big birds in less than an hour driving. You will also see sage grouse, jack rabbits, pronghorn antelope, bald eagles, (a few ), mule deer, and coyotes. Wyoming is still really a wild place with few Homo sapiens to muck it up.

Staying around the Denver area if you go 30 minutes west of the city to the front-range of the Rockies, we have several nesting pairs of Golden Eagles along the front range. At this time of the year and considering how mild it has been, you might get to see one or more of the great birds near highway 285, which if you take into South Park (2 hours) this great valley in the high mountains is also home to both our eagle species this time of the year.

You can certainly get lucky (which is what wildlife photography involves more times than not) in any of these places, but Wyoming offers the chance to increase your probabilities much more than anywhere near Denver proper. If you head, far south on I-25 to the New Mexico border, golden eagles can be seen fairly commonly just south of Colorado Springs all the way past Trinidad (just while on the highway). I have usually seen at least one golden on this route every trip to this part of the country...

Your best bet, is to connect with someone in the area who is a professional guide because of your limited time, this almost insures you will get at least a few memorable shots. Hope this helps.