Watchable Wildlife

Natural Resources & Environment>Watchable Wildlife

Watchable Wildlife

Recognizing that wildlife wiewing is a favorite recreational activity of most Coloradoans, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has established a program to encourage and facilitate "Watchable Wildlife." Nearly all wildlife is "watchable wildlife," if you have the patience. The Colorado Division of Wildlife lists some good-sense rules for wildlife watching etiquette:

1. Observe animals from a safe distance.
2. Move slowly and casually, not directly at wildlife. Allow animals to keep you in view; do not surprise them.
3. Never chase or harass wildlife.
4. Leave pets at home.
5. Using the animals' behavior as a guide, limit the time you spend watching if animals appear to be stressed.
6.Respect others who are viewing the same animals.
7. Do not feed wild mammals.
8. Respect private property; ask first to watch on private land.
9. Resting is critical behavior for many animals; don't encourage them to "do something" for your camera.
10. Avoid animals that behave strangely or aggressively.

Bald Eagles
Black Bear
Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse
Deer
Elk
Great Blue Herons
Greater Sage Grouse
Greater Sandhill Cranes
Moose
Pronghorn Antelope

Bald Eagles

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Related Links:
Elk

Courtesy of CDOW [Click here to view full size picture]

Great Blue Herons

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Description: The great blue heron has a blue body, a reddish-brown neck, and a black stripe that starts at its forehead and leads back into what looks like a snake's tongue. It is the largest heron in North America, which is approximately 4 feet in height with a wingspan of around 6 feet.
Habitat: The great blue heron's habitat can include rivers, lake edges, marshes, saltwater shores, or swamps. They usually will nest in trees near water.
Diet: Great blue herons usually fish around dawn or dusk, but they will hunt day and night. It uses its long legs to wade in shallow water and its sharp bill to catch its food. Their diet consists of fish, frogs, salamanders, lizards, snakes, crabs, crayfish, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and many other aquatic insects.
Reproduction: Great blue herons usually breed in the months of March-May. Their nests will consist of an egg clutch between 3-7 eggs. Chicks fledge at about two months.

Greater Sage Grouse

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Description: Greater sage grouse are large, ground dwelling, chicken-like birds that are around 22-30 inches in length. They have a blackish colored belly, and long pointed tail feathers. For most of the year, the male and female are both colored a mottled brown, black, and white. The males have a yellow comb above its eyes and a large white collar-like patch on its breast that conceals gular air sacs. These sacs inflate during the male's courtship ritual in the spring. Males weigh from 5-7 pounds, and females average about 3 pounds.
Habitat:Once found in at least 23 counties in Western Colorado, stable populations of this species now exist in only 5. Sage grouse are totally dependent on sagebrush.
Diet:Greater sage grouse are both herbivorous and insectivorous. Chicks eat primarily insects and forbs (small flowering plants), while adults eat sagebrush during winter and forbs during other seasons.
Reproduction:Males gather on ancestral display grounds called leks or strutting grounds from mid March through mid May where they engage in courtship displays during the first hours of the daylight. A typical clutch is 10-12 eggs, which the hen incubates for around 23 days. Broods are largely dependent for 6-8 weeks and then disperse.

Greater Sandhill Cranes

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Description:The sandhill crane is a long-legged, long-necked bird with a naked red forehead and slate or brown-gray plumage. Adults have a white chin, cheek and upper throat and black primaries. The young have a feathered head and chocolate-brown plumage with some rusty color. Sandhill cranes have are 34 to 38 inches in length and weigh eight to 10 pounds. Preening with muddy bills, cranes may stain feathers of upper back, lower neck and breast with ferrous solution contained in the mud. During migration, they fly in V-formations or make long lines. Their calls can be heard for miles. They have an unforgettable trumpeting call of gar-oo-oo. It is produced by a modified windpipe that has been likened to a French horn.
Habitat:They live in mudflats around reservoirs, moist meadows and agricultural areas. Breeding birds are found in parks with grassy hummocks and watercourses, beaver ponds and natural ponds lined with willows or aspens. They nest in wetlands and shallow marshes.
Diet:They forage for roots and starchy swellings that are found on the roots of tubers. They also eat seeds, small mammals and reptiles, eggs of other birds and invertebrates, such as worms, clams, insects and crayfish. In winter, sandhill cranes regularly feed in dry fields, returning to water at night.
Reproduction:The sandhill cranes are very territorial during the breeding season. The typical number of young produced by a female is two eggs, which are usually laid on a huge mound of marsh plants yanked up by their roots. The nest construction can take up to seven days and the nests may be five to six feet across. The pair of cranes, both the male and female, share incubation. The sandhill cranes have an unusual and spectacular mating dance. Two chicks hatch two to three days apart and the older one is often aggressive to its sibling. The parents keep the youngsters separated by walking apart, each adult is followed by one of the chicks. Full adult plumage is reached after two and a half years.
Viewing Areas:The sandhill crane population is estimated to be 25,000 birds, and approximately 15,000 of them occur in the Rocky Mountain regions of Canada as well as in the states Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and Colorado. The San Luis Valley of Colorado is a major stopover point for spring and fall migrations. Peak migration counts may be as high as 17,000. The sandhill crane is considered to be a species of special concern.

Moose

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