Have you ever thought about what kind of birds live at the back of your homes in Colorado?. Do you require assistance as to how to identify the most popular species of birds that visit your backyard in Colorado so that you can to feed them, and coexist as part of one large community?
It’s a wonderful experience to put your bird feeders in the air and observe the birds who visit however it’s much more satisfying when you know what they’re called.
This article will look at the most popular backyard birds of Colorado especially birds that live near to home. First, let’s take an understanding of the best way to identify birds in Colorado.
Additionally, you can download our free bird images to assist you in bird identification and also to keep an eye on the birds that frequent your backyard.
- American Robin
- Mourning Dove
- Broad-tailed Hummingbird
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Dark-eyed Junco
- House Finch
- Northern Flicker
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Black-billed Magpie
- House Wren
- American Crow
- European Starling
- Barn Swallow
- Yellow Warbler
- Western Meadowlark
- Common Grackle
- Eurasian Collared-Dove
- Western Kingbird
- American Goldfinch
- Blue Jay
It is believed that the Lark Bunting is the state bird of Colorado. The bird was first seen in 1931. It is an migrant bird that shows up in April, and then migrates to the Plains. It almost lost to Mountain Bluebird or Western Meadowlark But this rather unlikely bird prevailed.
There are 507 species of birds found in Colorado according to the ebird. The most notable birds found in Colorado are Ferruginous Hawk, Mountain Bluebird, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, White Pelican, White-faced Ibis, American Avocet, Burrowing Owl, Rough-legged Hawk, Great Blue Heron, and Greater Roadrunner.
The largest bird found in Colorado can be described as The Bald Eagle, which has wingspans that can reach 8 feet (2.5 meters) for females. The white-headed symbol of the national bird in America United States is a powerful predatory bird.
The tiniest bird that lives in Colorado can be the Calliope Hummingbird which is only around 3 inches long however, they can travel for across long distances, from Canada all up to the southern part of Mexico.
The most frequently seen bird found in Colorado is the American Robin, which is found on 39% of all recorded lists of the state’s an ebird during the entire year.
Colorado is home to four national parks as well as 11 national forests. eight national refuges for wildlife, two national grasslands along with 42 state parks which provide great bird watching opportunities if you’re looking to go out and observe birds in their natural habitat.
Common Birds at Different Times of Year in Colorado
Common birds throughout the year:
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Common Summer birds In Colorado:
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Common Winter birds In Colorado:
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Top 20 Most Common Backyard Birds in Colorado
1. American Robin
American Robin
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The American Robin is a regular sight on lawns , eating earthworms. They have black heads , and backs that are orange or red with breasts.
They are known to nest in the trees during winter, and you’re more likely to spot them in your yard from spring.
American Robins are found in a variety of habitats including forests, woodlands mountains, fields, parks and lawns. They feed on earthworms, snails, insects, and fruits.
You can draw more American Robins into your yard by planting suet, sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, fruits, and mealworms. Platform feeders are ideal or food that is scattered in the soil. You can also plant some native plants that yield fruits, like hawthorn, sumac, juniper and dogwood.
2. Mourning Dove
Mourning Dove
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Mourning Doves look elegant with their small-headed birdswith large bodies with long tails. They’re a light brown, with black spots on their wings.
They are often seen perched on telephone wires or searching to find seeds in fields, grasslands, and backyards. The mourning Doves can be seen in open areas, or along the edges of woodland.
Mourning Doves are prevalent across the lower 48 during the entire year round, however they may migrate after breeding in the northern part of the state.
You can draw even more Mourning Doves in your yard by scattering millet across the ground or in the form of platform feeders. They also consume black sunflower seeds, Nyjer crack corn, peanut hearts.
3. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are found at higher elevations and have green with iridescence on their backs and wings, with a brownish tint and white on the chest and in the belly.
Males sport an iridescent rose neck, females and juveniles sport the green spots that line their necks as well as cheeks.
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds breed in open meadows and high woodlands ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 feet in elevation in the west of the mountains, between late May and the end of August and then migrate to the southern part of Mexico to winter.
Due to the colder temperatures at higher altitudes Due to the cold at higher elevations, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird can slow their heart rate and lower their body temperature , causing them to go into a state of trpor.
The nectar that flowers produce is the most common food source for Hummingbirds. Broad-tailed Hummingbirds drink larkspur, red columbine, sageand scarlet gilia and often visit feeders for hummingbirds. They also supplement their diet by eating small insects, and feed their young with insects, too.
In order to attract more Hummingbirds with Broad-tailed Tails to your backyard, add the sugar-water in a feeder for hummingbirds and then add tubular plants to your backyard.
There are many kinds of hummingbirds found in Colorado which you can take pleasure in watching.
4. Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
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The red-winged blackbird is very widespread and easy to recognize due to their all-black color, except for the bright yellow and bright red shoulder patches. Females appear dull in comparison to their streaky, brown color.
They are frequently seen in telephone wires and males are known to fiercely defend their territory during the breeding season, and even attack those who are closer to their nests. When it is winter time, the birds will roost in huge numbers, reaching millions.
To draw more blackbirds with red wings in your backyard, consider mix grain and seeds that are spread over the ground. They take advantage of large feeders, or platforms feeders.
5. Dark-eyed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco
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The dark-eyed Juncos are sparrows diverse in color depending of the region in which they live. They tend to be slate-colored in the east, while they are black, white and brown in the west.
They are located in open and partially wooded areas, typically on the ground. They are widespread across the entire continent. Many remain in residence all year in the west and in the Appalachian Mountains. Breeders in Canada and Alaska are able to migrate south during winter and migrate to in the United States.
It is possible to attract more dark-eyed Juncos to backyard feeders by offering various seeds like black oil sunflower seeds crack corn, nyjer millet and peanuts. Platform feeders , or sprinkled on the ground are ideal.
6. House Finch
House Finch
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House Finches sport a red breast and head in the males, and brown-streaked coloring for females. The species was initially restricted to the west It was then brought to eastern states and has performed extremely well, dispersing its cousin, the Purple Finch.
They can be seen in farms, parks as well as along the edges of forests as well as backyard feeds. They form large, noisy groups which are hard to miss. They consume buds, seeds and fruits, such as thistle and cactus, cherries, Apricots, Plums, Strawberry and blackberries. They also eat figs.
It is possible to attract many more house finches your backyard feeders by using black sunflower seeds or Nyjer seeds that are placed in feeders made of tubes and platforms for feeders.
7. Northern Flicker
Northern Flicker
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Northern Flickers are huge woodpeckers that are between the size of an owl and a crow with brownish coloring. They also have black bars, spots, and crescents, as well as their nape is red.
The tail’s underside and wings feathers appear bright yellow for birds of the eastern region and red in western birds.
They can be seen in the dirt looking for ants and beetles within forests and along forest edges. Breeders within Canada or Alaska relocate to southern states, however they are found throughout the year across all of the upper 48.
You can draw even more northern Flickers into the backyard feeders by using suet and sunflower seeds with black oil.
8. Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
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The Black-capped Chickadee is adorable bird with a round head and a tiny body. They love to feed at backyard feeders, and will look at everything, even you!
They sport black-capped beaks and black-caps as well as white cheeks. They are gray on their back as well as the wings and tail.
They are located in open woods, and in parks. The black-capped Chickadees devour seeds, berries, and spiders, insects, and suet.
To draw more Black-capped Chickadees in your yard, you can try Suet, sunflower seeds and peanuts, or peanut butter. They may even feed out of your hands and are typically among the birds that first find new feeders. They can also nest in nest boxes, particularly when you fill them with shavings of wood.
9. Black-billed Magpie
Black-billed Magpie
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Black-billed Magpies are white and black birds with loud voices. They are bigger than Jays with long tails, and blue-green iridescent flashes on the wings and tail.
They are not known to migrate , and can be found in meadows and grasslands or in other open areas, feeding on grains and fruits beetles and grasshoppers.
They have also been reported to take small mammals, such as voles and squirrels, and also to take over bird nests to steal nestlings or eggs, and even carrion.
Black-billed Magpies are known to visit backyards to feed on suet and platform feeders made of black sunflower seeds and peanuts suet, fruit, millet and milo.
10. House Wren
House Wren
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House Wrens are small, nondescript brown birds, with more barred and darker tails and a softer throat. They breed in all states before moving to the extreme south and Mexico to winter.
House Wrens are found in parks, backyards and open woods looking to find insects, like caterpillars, beetles and earwigs in the brush piles.
House Wrens are aggressive when it comes to nesting sites. They can take on larger birds. They may even drag young and eggs from nests they’d like.
It is possible to attract more House Wrens into your backyard by laying out heaps of brush to protect themselves or building an attractive nest box to attract breeding pairs.
11. American Crow
American Crow
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American Crows are huge, black birds that produce the sound of a cawing, hoarse. They are that are found in all environments, including treetops fields, forests or beaches, as well as towns.
They consume almost everything and typically consume food on the ground, eating insects, earthworms, seeds, and fruits.
They also consume young turtles, fish as well as mussels and clams and can even eat nestlings and eggs from a variety of bird species.
In the winter months, American Crows gather in huge numbers of up two million crows. They lay in communal roosts.
You can draw more American Crows in your yard by scattering peanuts around, but it can cause a problem when they are attracted by trash or pet food put out.
12. European Starling
European Starling
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European Starlings are not native but they are among the largest songbirds. They are large, black birds with iridescent green, purple and blue hues.
They are considered to be a threat by some because of their aggressive nature They are often seen flying in loud, large crowds. They sit in groups on tree’s tops or fly across fields in a horde.
Starlings feed on insects, which includes caterpillars, beetles and flies as well as earthworms and spiders mostly. They also eat fruits such as cherries, holly and mulberries. Virginia Creeper, sumac, blackberries, grains and seeds.
You can draw the European Starlings closer to your feeder using Suet cracked corn and peanuts.
13. Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
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Barn Swallows are tiny birds that have a blue back as well as the tail and wings, with a reddish-brown under and on the face. The tail has long , outer feathers which give an incredibly deep fork.
They reproduce throughout the majority of North America before heading to Central and South America. They fly above meadows, fields, and farms looking for insects.
They typically build mounds of mud on artificial structures like in barns.
You can draw more Barn Swallows by setting nest boxes or cups . They could eat eggshells that have been ground up in a feeder on a platform.
14. Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
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Yellow Warblers are tiny, bright yellow birds that live in Colorado with a back that is yellow-green and males sporting chestnut streaks across their breasts they are most common during the summer.
They travel a long distance and breed across a large portion of North America before heading into Central and northern South America for winter.
They are visible when they are migrating in the far south.
Yellow Warblers graze through wetlands and streams in thickets, and on areas of field edges in search of insects, such as caterpillars, bugs, midges, beetles and wasps.
Warblers can be difficult to lure to your garden as they’re shy and eat mostly insects. To attract Yellow Warblersto your yard, it is possible to try suet peanut butter, oranges and berries from plants, as well as native plants which attract insects, thus don’t use pesticides or be too neat! Birdbaths that have fountains and dense, secluded trees nearby for security.
15. Western Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
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Western Meadowlarks, with their bright yellow bellies and a melodious song, will brighten your day. This is what probably makes these birds so beloved, well-known that they’re the official bird of six states.
Western Meadowlarks are related to blackbirds. They’re about the size of the size of a Robin with brown shades and white upper parts and an elongated black band across the chest of bright yellow that changes to gray in winter.
They breed in the northern US states as well as Canada prior to moving on southern states. They are found living in western states and the midwest stay all through the.
Western Meadowlarks forage for insects and seeds from weeds as well as seeds on the ground as a small group or in meadows, grasslands, and fields.
To draw even more Western Meadowlarks to your yard Try hulling sunflower seeds or cracked corn on feeders that are in the ground.
16. Common Grackle
Common Grackle
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Common Grackles are blackbirds with a higher tadpole and have longer tails than a normal blackbird, and have shimmering iridescent bodies.
They eat a variety of plants, but mostly corn . They also are often seen in large groups, high in the trees. They also eat trash and can cause nuisance.
Their habitat is diverse which includes woodlands open, marshes fields, and parks. They can congregate in huge numbers during winter to roost and forage, together with other blackbird species.
Common Grackles can be found throughout the year in a large portion of the eastern and all states that are southeastern.
They do however move south following breeding in the north and east of their territory.
It is possible to attract additional Common Grackles to your backyard by using the majority of mixed grains and seeds sprinkled on feeders in the ground or on platform feeders.
17. Eurasian Collared-Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
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Eurasian Collared-Doves are an imported species that was introduced in the early 1980s, however they are now found across the majority of the US. They’re light brownish-gray with white patches on the tail.
They look quite similar to Mourning Doves however, they sport a an elongated black collar that is placed on the nape of the neck. They also have a larger size and have a tail that is square instead of a pointed.
They prefer areas close to people with abundant seeds like backyard feeders or farms, they’re not found in forests with heavy trees.
The Eurasian Collared’Doves primarily consume a variety of grains and seeds, but they will also eat insects and berries.
You can attract more Eurasian-Collared-Doves to your backyard with millet, oats, cracked corn, and Black oil sunflower seeds or hulled sunflower seeds on ground feeders, but they may also visit platform or hopper feeders.
18. Western Kingbird
Western Kingbird
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Western Kingbirds are large flycatchers with yellow bellies with white chests with gray heads, grayish brown wings, and dark tails.
They breed throughout the western part of North America and are a common sight during summer before moving into Mexico as well as Central America. Some might even winter in south Florida.
They are found in open habitats and sit on utility lines and fences in anticipation of insects to fly past before catching them mid-flight.
They are often found close to the edges of woodlands, so they are able to nest in trees or hunt out in the open. They also make nests within human made structures.
You can draw more Western Kingbirds to your backyard by creating an insect-friendly environment and planting hawthorn or elderberry that they can also eat the fruit of.
19. American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
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American Goldfinches are popular birds with males with who have bright black and yellow colors in spring. Females are more dull brown, just like males in winter.
Prior to migrating to the Southern states American Goldfinches breed in the northernmost states as well as Canada. They stay all year round throughout the US.
They are located in fields of weeds and overgrown areas, where they hunt for sunflower aster, thistle and other plants. They also are common in parks, suburbs and backyards.
Try planting milkweed and thistles to draw many more American Goldfinches to your backyard. They are frequent visitors to bird feeders and will prefer sunflower seeds and nyjer seeds.
20. Blue Jay
Blue Jay
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Blue Jays are typical large songbirds that have an upright blue crest as well as black and blue backs and white undersides.
They are loud birds that are often seen with their families in large groups, and eat acorns when they are they are available.
Most of them are resident, but they can move from the northwestern part of the US and could move in large groups across their Great Lakes and Atlantic coast.
They are located in forests, mostly close to oaks, since they consume the acorns. They are also found in backyards close to feeders. Along with acorns, they also eat insects, seeds, nuts and grains. They also may take eggs from nests or nestlings.
Try sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet to draw many more Blue Jays to your backyard However, they will prefer feeding on feeders on tray or hopper feeders mounted on a post. They can also appreciate an outdoor birdbath.
Best Bird Feeders to Attract Birds in Colorado
A wide variety of bird feeders are able to attract the majority of species of birds.
Tube Feeders: can be filled with various kinds of birdseed , and based on the seeds, different birds are attracted. The seeds of sunflower with black oil draw Goldfinches, Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and Pine Siskins.
Ground Feeders: or a tray under the Tube Feeder equipped with Black oil sunflowers as tube feeders draw Cardinals, Jays, Finches and Sparrows.
Platform feeders: that contain Millet or Corn draw small and medium-sized birds, such as birds like sparrows Blackbirds, Towhees, Juncos, Doves, Grackles and Starlings.
Peanut feeders: draw Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Jays, Juncos, Finches, and Sparrows.
Suet Feeders: are wonderful especially in winter to Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Nuthatches, Kinglets, Wrens, and Chickadees.
Hummingbird feeders: draw these beautiful birds, but they also attract other birds as well.
How to Attract Birds To Your Backyard in Colorado
If you’re looking to draw more birds into your backyard in Colorado There are a few guidelines:
- Set up bird feeders for all kinds of birds in order to get the highest number of species to visit your backyard.
- Install a water fountain or source like a birdbath fountain or stream. Make sure that the water is clear and does not get stagnant.
- Plant native plants to provide shelter and food. Plants, trees, as well as plants that yield fruits, berries, as well as nuts. Wild grasses, blackberries elderberries, serviceberries Oaks, Beeches, Cherries Sumacs, Hemlocks, purple Coneflowers, Sunflowers, Milkweed, Cardinal Flowers, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Virginia Creeper, Buttonbush and Dogwoods.
- Grow your grass long, to cover the ground and seed.
- Make a pile of brush for food, protection and nesting areas for birds.
- Avoid using herbicides or pesticides because they can be harmful to birds, and can impede the natural foraging possibilities to insects as well as seeds birds are likely to seek out within your yard.
- Install nest boxes to draw breeding birds in and make sure that they are cleaned each year.
How to Identify Birds in Colorado
Here are some suggestions to help you recognize birds:
Size: The size is the most obvious aspect to be aware of about birds. Birds are usually measured in centimeters or inches in books on birding. It’s recommended to make notes of the bird’s dimensions as small, medium or large in order to locate it in the future. Small birds are one-third the size as a bird. the medium bird is around what a bird would weigh. And an enormous bird is similar to the size of a goose.
Shape: Make note of the bird’s silhouette and write it down or sketch the outline. Take a look at the length of the tail the bill shape, the wingshape, as well as general body structure.
Color pattern: Take note of the primary color of the back, head and belly as well as wings and tails as the main color. You can also note after that, any other colors, patterns or secondary color. Be aware of any patterns like banding highlights, spots, or banding.
Behavior: Is it in the ground or within the tree. Are they in groups or are they on their own? Do you know the food they’re eating?
Habitat: Woodlands, parks meadows, grasslands, or shrubs shores or marsh.
Utilize a bird identification app like those made by Ebird or Audubon