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Colorado's riparian habitats provide important stopping points for many birds that migrate north and south with the changing seasons. The mountains' snow melt provide important resting places where birds can eat and refuel.
Birds have come up with different strategies to find the food and energy to make such long journeys. Wading birds, like great blue herons and whooping cranes, have adapted by growing long legs to wade through the water while hunting for fish. Shorebirds, like the sandpiper and the killdeer, run along the shorelines hunting for small insects and fresh water shrimp. Waterfowl, like mallard ducks and canada geese, produce an oil that they rub over their feathers to stay water proof and float on the water while scavenging for food.
Other birds, like the king fisher and bald eagle, use the tall trees by the shoreline or fly over the water to hunt for fish. The american dipper is one of the more unique birds. It swims through the mountain streams and lakes hunting for fish and insects. Many smaller birds, like mourning doves and red-winged blackbirds, live in the dense plants and trees by the shores eating the abundant seeds and insects. Birds of prey, like northern harriers, owls, and nighthawks hunt for small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, and small rodents that live in the dense riparian vegetation (plants and trees).
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