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Colorado National Monument

I love Colorado. I spent a week or so there in 1993 and its one of my favourite states. Boulder is a great town, and the Rocky Mountain National Park has some of the most spectacular scenery I’ve seen, along with a nice range of quite visible mammals. Be sure to eat biscuits and gravy for breakfast at every opportunity. I went back in 2011 for a few days in Denver in March, and again for a few days more in June.

Boulder, June 1993 – try downtown Boulder for Eastern Cottontail, Raccoons and even Musk Rats. In late March 2011 I looked for Colorado Chipmunks around Boulder but it was still a little too early in the season I think and I didn't see any mammals. I am reliably informed that Colorado Chipmunks have been caught at a small preserve called Betasso (just up Boulder Creek Canyon) and nearby along Millionaire Drive East (N40.0110, W105.371) a couple of miles west of Boulder. I looked here again in June, and also around Flagstaff Mountain (head west on baseline road) which used to be a good spot for them. But though I saw Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Red Squirrels, Desert Cottontails and an Abert's Squirrel (near the amphitheatre at the summit) I couldn't find any chipmunks.

Colorado National Monument, June 2011 - is a beautiful 4 to 5 hour drives from Denver. I headed here to see Hopi Chipmunks and saw several along the Window Rock trail that runs from the visitor's centre. There were a lot of Chipmunks around here and some were Least I think, though several were difficult to pick.

Hopi Chipmunks

Driving through the park I also saw a Rock Squirrel, Black-tailed Jack Rabbits and a White-tailed Prarie Dog was trying to cross the road in Grand Junction.

Denver, March 2011 - Eastern Fox Squirrels (introduced) are common in Denver's leafier suburbs. Try around 1400 East 10th Avenue for example and nearby Cheesman Park. I also looked for Colorado Chipmunks around Spruce Mountain where I believe they occur but it was a cold day and probably too early to see them (I didn't see any mammals). I went back again in June but still no chipmunks - the only mammal was a Desert Cottontail. Spruce Mountain is just off Hwy 25, exit 167, about 40 minutes south of Denver.

Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrel area, at the zoo gate

Denver Zoo is a good spot to see Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels. This seems likely to be a remnant wild population as the area used to border on to the prarie. The best areas to see them appear to be around the little flower bed and giraffe statue right at the zoo entrance (immediately in front of the gate where you need to produce your ticket to gain entry, so in fact you probably do not need to go into the zoo to see the squirrels) and also in the shrubbery around the cafeteria to your right when you enter the zoo. I saw one, briefly, rustling through the vegetation near the cafe (they are cryptic little things). The lady working at the gate and seen several that day but they were the first she had seen all year so my timing (late March) was good it seems. They were much easier to see in June in the same spot. Whatever your view on zoos, Denver is interesting at least in terms of some of the species they have there. I enjoyed seeing Red River Hogs, Yellow-backed Duikers, Fossas and several other species I don't remember seeing in captivity before.

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel

Pronghorn, Pawnee National Grasslands
Fort Collins area, June 2011 - John Fox recommended I look around here for Spotted Ground Squirrels and Swift Foxes and his advice was good. The Pawnee National Grasslands are about 30 miles east of Fort Collins and I arrived at dusk and focussed my Swift Fox searching around the ghost town of Keota (which is at the junction of CO Rd 103 and Co Road 390. I arrived at dusk and within 30 minutes had seen two separate Swift Foxes, Black-tailed Jackrabbits and at least one American Badger all on CO Rd 390, about 1.3 miles north west of the junction with CO Rd 103.

Swift Fox

Early the next morning I set out to look for a Spotted Ground Squirrel and finally saw one at almost exactly the same spot where I saw the Badger and Foxes. Except it wasn't a Spotted Ground Squirrel. They are present but so are Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels which was what I saw.

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel

I set some traps along the roadside and in the morning had caught a Western Harvest Mouse and an Ord's Kangaroo Rat. The grooves on the Harvest Mouse incissors, which are diagnostic, were really very distinctive.

Western Harvest Mouse

Ord's Kangaroo Rat

Great Sand Dunes National Monument, July 1993 – Ord’s Kangaroo Rat.

Mount Evans, June 1993 – Mountain Goats were pretty easy to spot up at the summit where they lick salt from the road. These animals aren't so easy to see elsewhere in the Rockies south of Canada.

Northern Colorado, June 1993 – look out for Pronghorn Antelope along the highway as you head up to Dakota and Wyoming.

Big Horn Sheep, Estes Park
Rocky Mountain National Park, June 1993 – a beautiful park with lots of wildlife. I had a  Pika (at a roadside view point high on a scree slope), Eastern Cottontail, Yellow Bellied Marmots (common), Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel, Wyoming Ground Squirrel, Least Chipmunk, Red Squirrel, Big Horn Sheep, Beaver (Cub Lake Trailhead at dusk), Coyote, Red Deer (Elk), Mule Deer. In March 2011 I saw Big Horn Sheep just outside Estes Park, a couple of Red Squirrels and many Elk inside the park.

See Also
RFI – for Chipmunks and Ground Squirrels in California, Colorado and eastern Utah (June 2011). Covering Hopi Chipmunks, Spotted Ground Squirrels and more.

Colorado Chipmunks RFI (March 2011). A discussion about where to see Colorado Chipmunks, Spotted & Thirteen lined Ground Squirrels and other rodents and shrews).

Other People's Trip Reports
Colorado, 2008: Mark Hows, 2 weeks & 34 mammals including a Cougar and a Badger.