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Spring Wildlife Viewing
The Eyes Have It Monte Vista Crane Festival Wildlife Happenings Guide Wildlife Watch Educator's Guide

Christmas is over; the New Year has passed; the Super Bowl has come and gone. Maybe you’ve spent the cold months indoors, playing video games, cruising the Internet, cooking, cleaning out the closets. You’re tired of being cooped up indoors. Aw, Mom, there’s nothing to do!

But Mom always knew the solution—go outdoors and play—and she’s right. As winter winds down and spring approaches, there are a host of “events” happening in nature that offer a different version of spectator sports. These events have happened every spring for thousands of years, so it’s time you got out there and watched!

Imagine a field filled with birds—not small sparrows but birds that stand higher than your waist. They bow and pirouette, prance and dance. Above it all rises a rolling music of croaks and trills. They’re sandhill cranes and you can see them, playing this March in Colorado's own San Luis Valley.

Or how about visiting a secret spot on the prairie? As the sun comes up, prairie-chickens make their way onto a traditional courting ground. This spot has been used by the birds for generations, and this year you’re invited too. Soon the prairie will be alive with wild chickens dancing and spinning. Orange pouches on their necks swell up like balloons, then deflate, filling the morning with wheezing pops that sound like a bagpipe band warming up. It’s all happening in northeastern Colorado near the town of Wray.

Far across the state, there’s another fellow to watch for. He won’t be dancing or singing, but a 1,000-pound bull moose doesn’t have to do more than stand there to make your jaw drop. The starting place for moose discovery is at the Moose Visitor Center in North Park, near Walden.

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Wildlife watching is fun. It’s a wholesome activity ideal for family outings. It doesn’t cost a lot of money and it doesn’t require any equipment, though binoculars will improve the view. In this era when we all complain about too much stress, getting outdoors in nature to look at animals is one of the best ways to relax and de-stress.

We’re fortunate to live in a state with abundant wildlife, much of it fairly easy to see, if you go at the right times and to the right places. Some knowledge of the animals’ habits will help too.

A good way to start wildlife viewing is to participate in an organized event, such as a festival with organized tours, lectures and workshops that teach about the animals and skills for enjoying them. Inside this issue, you’ll find a guide to Colorado-wide spring festivals dedicated to wildlife.

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Wildlife have always had economic value. When Colorado was first settled, wildlife were harvested for food and to be sold to the market. Animal pelts and skins were valuable commodities. In the 20th century, recreational hunting and fishing grew in importance. Today they generate millions of dollars annually for the state economy. In recent decades, wildlife watching has grown to make a significant economic contribution, particularly in the communities watchers visit to see wildlife.

According to a 1996 US Fish and Wildlife Service survey, 62.9 million Americans fed, observed or photographed wildlife around their homes and on trips away from home in 1996. They spent $29.2 billion on these activities, including $9.4 billion on trip-related costs, $16.7 billion for equipment, and $3.1 billion on dues and contributions to wildlife-related organizations, and magazines. In Colorado in that year, wildlife watchers spent over $786 million on their hobby, which generated $23.6 million in sales tax revenue and $13.9 million in state income tax revenue. It also accounted for 19,784 jobs. These dollars have particular impact in small and rural communities such as Wray, Walden, Monte Vista and Hayden. As opportunities emerge for local communities to realize the economic value to wildlife beyond directly harvesting the animals, the citizens whose land and neighborhoods are home to wildlife will have more incentives to support wildlife conservation.

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When you watch wildlife, particularly if you travel to different parts of the state, you not only de-stress and have fun, you benefit and support your fellow Coloradans. That’s how wildlife watching is good, for you and for the neighbors—both human and animal!

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We Need Wildlife—Some of us would wither spiritually if we could not occasionally get away from the artificiality of modern life and regain perspective through watching the ways of our wild neighbors. But what about the average man; does he need this tonic? Is wildlife really important? . . . Plainly wildlife is a resource of the first magnitude . . . But how can we really put a dollar sign on anything as all-encompassing as nature? A monetary symbol can never express the beauty of a forest, the delicacy of a flower or the wonder of a thrush’s song . . . Each animal that exists today is the end result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. As the inheritors of the earth, it is our responsibility to see that our wild neighbors have living space and that no species is pushed out of existence.

—from the National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Conservation Stamp Album, 1957

Next: Monte Vista Crane Festival

(The information contained in this issue of Colorado's Wildlife Company was accurate at the time of original publication. Situations and circumstances described, staff positions, contact information, and dates of some events may have changed in the interim. Present knowledge and understanding of biological and behavioral facts and information may also be different, now, than presented here.)