Birding spots · Colorado

Best Birding Spots in Chaffee County, Colorado

Frantz Lake State Wildlife Area leads Chaffee County's birding spots with 188 species reported, best in spring. 26 spots in the county have enough data to rank.

Species counts are birds reported at least three times in that season at that spot, 2016–2025. Busy spots list more species simply because more people look, so compare the checklist counts. Spot names come from public map data and hotspot listings.

Spot	Species	Checklists	Winter	Spring	Summer	Fall
Frantz Lake State Wildlife Area	188	1,214	34	164	105	120
Sands Lake State Wildlife Area	165	1,345	57	138	100	92
Mount Ouray State Wildlife Area	161	793	53	138	86	87
Chalk Cliffs SFU	137	316	35	119	62	58
Ice Pond	126	156	21	106	50	65
Bald Mountain Gulch	117	552	26	75	85	60
Arkansas River Segment 2	105	389	32	86	31	25
Cemetery Gulch	105	217	17	75	81	53
Clear Creek Reservoir	91	196	4	57	46	46
Arkansas River Segment 2 (Buena Vista)	85	265	21	48	60	26
Browns Canyon Warm Spring	82	158	4	52	59	21
North Cottonwood Creek	62	72	2	35	43	6
Cottonwood Lake	61	80	0	5	53	16
Frantz Lake	59	81	16	36	31	11
Arkansas River Segment 2 (west)	59	79	10	41	22	14
McPhelemy Park	58	114	4	35	35	23
O'Haver Lake	52	72	0	5	45	6
North Fork Chalk Creek	45	108	2	8	32	15
Mount Princeton Hot Springs	45	68	10	24	26	5
Mccormick Park	42	53	3	18	19	14
Chalk Lake	39	57	0	10	28	12
Monarch Pass	28	108	1	13	22	4
Birding spot near Salida	102	144	5	68	63	71
Birding spot near Buena Vista	76	129	1	65	42	16
Birding spot near Johnson Village	55	157	2	28	35	21
Birding spot near Salida (Cottonwood Gulch)	41	78	7	19	19	12