Lower Derby Lake - Where the Eagles Came Back

A stop on Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Loop, a free self-guided tour.

This viewing area looks out toward the Derby lakes and the tall cottonwoods around them. The area around the lakes is sensitive wildlife habitat and closed to entry, so do your watching from here.

In 1986, while workers were still testing the Arsenal's polluted ground, biologists found a winter roost of bald eagles on the Arsenal. The birds were an endangered species at the time, and they were coming to hunt the prairie dogs that thrived on the empty land. That discovery brought the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service onto the site, and in 1992 Congress voted to make the Arsenal a national wildlife refuge once the cleanup was done.

Bald eagles still spend winters here, roughly from late fall into early spring. Scan the bare branches of the big cottonwoods for a white head, and watch the sky over the prairie for broad, dark wings. Bring binoculars: the birds often perch far from the road. Water levels in the lakes rise and fall, and in dry years Lower Derby can be little more than a damp hollow.

Getting here: Follow the Wildlife Drive signs east along 64th Avenue about 1.5 km to the wildlife viewing area near mile marker 1.

Did you know?: President George H. W. Bush signed the law creating the refuge on October 9, 1992.

Photo op: On a winter morning, use a long lens from the viewing area to catch an eagle perched in the cottonwoods.

More on Wikipedia: Bald eagle · Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

Lower Derby Lake - Where the Eagles Came Back

Stops on this tour