Here are some of my favorite spots in the vicinity of some of the places you mentioned:
Nebraska: During the peak of migration, the Platte River between Grand Island and Kearney, hosts some 550,000 sandhill cranes. This is one of the great wildlife gatherings in the world and is absolutely spectacular. The downside is that most of the birds, maybe all of them, will have left by the time you get there. Generally they are there from about March 1 to about April 15. If they are still there, you will see them in the fields feeding on last year's waste corn. Look for them as you buzz past on the Interstate. There are also photo and viewing blinds at the Lillian Annette Rowe Sanctuary if you have additional time.
Colorado: You'll be too early I'm sure, but Mount Evans just west of Denver is a spectacular place. It's the only 14,000 foot mountain in the US that you can drive to the top. Mountain sheep, mountain goats, elk, coyotes, pika, and marmots are easily photographed there, plus wildflowers in season. I've also seen mountain lion tracks crossing the road after an early snowfall. I'm sure the road is still closed due to snow, although it may be open part way up. The best part, however, is in the National Forest fee area, and that is the part of the road that is normally closed this early in the year.
Mesa Verde National Park, west of Durango, is also an interesting place.
New Mexico: Check out the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge about 100 miles south of Albuquerque. The cranes and snow geese will have left; best viewing is in mid-winter, but it's still a fascinating place and the shorebirds are likely to be arriving on their migration. Since it is an oasis in the desert, it attracts a lot of wildlife. Because it is in the desert, one side of the road will have shorebirds and the other side lizards. If you drive past it, it wouldn't hurt to drive around some of the loops looking for wildlife.
If you're into cultural items, you might want to check out Occama, the sky city. It's a pueblo in New Mexico, ah, I believe east of Albuquerque, but you'll want to check that out. It's the oldest, continously inhabited city (pueblo) in North America. If I remember correctly it has been inhabited for well over 500 years, maybe longer. The church, erected there in the 1700s by the Jesuits, is in its own right fascinating. Wall hangings, several hundred years old, given as a gift to the mission by the pope, still hang on the walls. No photography is allowed in the church, but there photo possibilities in the rest of the town and you can learn a lot from your guide.
The Native Americans do charge a fee to take a tour, and you can only visit by taking a tour. There might also be a charge to take your camera if it looks like it is "professional" equipment, and all cameras apparently look professional to the people who decide... Still it's a fascinating place. If you go, take the original trail down the cliff when you leave, the only time you are really allowed to leave the tour, rather than the bus, providing you have some eye/hand coordination and don't mind steep places. Handholds carved in the rocks were put there hundreds of years ago by the cities' inhabitants.
In Albuquerque is the Petroglyphs National Monument. Take a hike there if you have time. The petroglyphs are pretty neat. There are also petroglyphs in the city parks.
Those are some places that I can think of off the top of my head. Unfortunately, you're a bit early for one and a bit late for two. Maybe some other trip for those.
I'm not familiar at all with the canyonlands, so can't help you much there.
Sounds like a fun trip though. Hope you have a good one.