Big Year Bird Checklist for Colorado

A free printable Colorado bird checklist. Pick your goal, get the PDF.

Outline of Colorado

Colorado's checklist climbs from shortgrass prairie to alpine tundra. The lek-displaying grouse of spring are the marquee targets of any serious Colorado list.

The tool builds you a printable checklist of every bird realistically possible in Colorado, grouped by family, with seasonal markers and a space to log the date you spot each one. It's drawn from public, license-clean records — not a generic national list, but the species that actually occur where you're birding.

Pick Colorado (or any area inside it), choose your goal — Big Day, Big Month, Big Year, or a life list — and download the PDF. Free, no account, no email. Print it, fold it in a field guide, and start checking birds off.

What you'll find on a Colorado checklist

A Colorado checklist mixes widespread residents with the specialties that make the state worth a big year. A few you'll want to target:

  • Greater Sage-Grouse — Iconic sagebrush lek display.
  • Gunnison Sage-Grouse — A range-restricted endemic.
  • Brown-capped Rosy-Finch — Alpine-tundra specialty.
  • White-tailed Ptarmigan — Above treeline year-round.
  • Lark Bunting — The state bird; prairie summer.
  • Mountain Plover — Shortgrass-prairie nester.
  • Dusky Grouse — Montane-forest grouse.
  • American Three-toed Woodpecker — Burned-forest specialist.
  • Lewis's Woodpecker — Open-pine flycatching woodpecker.
  • Broad-tailed Hummingbird — Trilling montane breeder.
  • Sandhill Crane — Massive San Luis Valley staging.
  • Mountain Bluebird — Open-country sky-blue.

Your generated PDF includes every realistic species for the exact area you pick, with seasonal markers and a space to log each sighting.

This is a preview. For your full printable list:

Build a complete, customizable Colorado checklist — filter by season, by how common a bird is, and by family, then download the PDF.

What kind of list do you need?

Birders use “Big” challenges to make birding count. Pick the timeframe you're working with — we'll tune the list for it.

Better With Birds

Shop the birds you love

Chasing a Colorado big year? You're going to like the apparel, prints, and stickers we've designed around these birds.

Greater Sage-Grouse, Gunnison Sage-Grouse, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, White-tailed Ptarmigan — all illustrated and designed by Jaymi at Better With Birds. Made-to-order, never mass-printed.

Shop bird designs →