Waterton Canyon, the South Platte's final slice through the Rockies, is an excellent destination for a nature walk in any season; however, due to large weekend crowds, I recommend a weekday morning visit. Wildlife is usually abundant and the rugged cliffs of Precambrian granite offer a scenic background at every turn.
Today dawned cloudy and cool but the Canyon was clearly in its spring mode and most of the summer residents had returned. Rufous-sided towhees, yellow warblers and gray catbirds dominated the scene but broad-tailed hummingbirds, violet-green swallows, yellow-breasted chats, lesser goldfinches and western tanagers were all back from the south. As usual, great blue herons, mallards and the ubiquitous Canada geese fed along the river, joined by belted kingfishers, spotted sandpipers and a few American dippers; despite the presence of large lakes just downstream, double-crested cormorants have also begun to fish here in recent years. This morning, I encountered two pair of common mergansers, lounging on boulders in the turbulent stream, apparently foregoing a migration to Canadian waters.
Despite a large variety of summer birds, some permanent residents were less common than usual this morning; only a few scrub jays, canyon wrens and magpies graced the Canyon and, for the first time in years, I failed to see a golden eagle. In addition, the mammal population must have been sleeping in; only a few mule deer browsed the slopes and I saw only one small group of bighorns, resting in a side canyon. But that's the beauty of nature hikes: on any given day, your expectations may be dashed or exceeded, often at the same time!
