It’s hard to believe Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat used to be a gravel pit.

These days, the 100-acre refuge, at 5201 St. Vrain Road in Boulder County , attracts plenty of wildlife, including a large number of migrating birds that come for five on-site ponds knit together with 2.9 miles of flat, scenic trail.

Even on a cold December morning, it’s worth bundling up to see what’s fluttering through the reclaimed wetlands. Not far from Longmont’s municipal airport, Pella Crossing , a mile south of Hygiene, on the east side of North 75th Street, delivers a similar scene – industrial strip mines transformed into a peaceful haven.

Feeling unseasonably hopeful, I once took my young kids birding at Walden Ponds. The hobby requires a certain level of patience and quiet – not exactly our famil

See Full Page