Habitats

Aspen Groves

Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) is one of Colorado's most unmistakeable trees, especially considering that white birches do not occur in the state. Scattered individual aspens may grow in the ponderosa and lodgpole belts, or entire hillsides may be covered by pure stands, some of which may be the result of the vegetative spread of a single individual! Many species rely on cavities in aspens for nesting purposes, and therefore the birding tends to be best in the most mature groves--the ones where the trees have the largest diameter. Look here for sapsuckers, small owls, Empidonax flycatchers and Warbling Vireo.