Mating season means peak viewing time for wildlife-watchers

Mary Taylor Young, Special to the Rocky

Published October 26, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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Photo by Steve Peterson / Special To The Rocky

Mule deer graze on the perimeter of the dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park last November.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Bighorn sheep like steep slopes, often at high elevation.

Photo by Mike Seraphin / Special To The Rocky

Snow geese rise from a field in southeastern Colorado.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky/2005

A mallard takes flight from a lake at St. Vrain State Park, in Weld County.

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As days grow shorter, the mercury drops and snow starts to fly, the state's wildlife is gearing up for some of the year's most exciting "events."

Fall and winter are mating season for many animals, offering wildlife watchers wonderful opportunities to observe courtship rituals, territorial displays and other interesting behaviors. Preoccupied with courtship, animals often are less wary and may be more easily viewed. And our mild winters and manmade reservoirs attract some spectacular feathered friends.

Urban wildlife

Don't feel like venturing from home to see wildlife? Try attracting birds to your yard with bird feeders. Because they need calorie-rich food to survive the cold, offer suet in a suet feeder and black oil sunflower in a seed feeder. Goldfinches and pine siskins will come to a feeder filled with thistle, or niger, seed. Water is crucial for the birds' winter survival, so set up a birdbath with a heater - available at wild-bird-feeding stores - to keep the water ice-free. It's quite a sight on a winter day to see crowds of robins dipping and splashing in your birdbath as the snow falls!

Take a walk in your local park and keep an eye out for signs of neighborhood creatures. You might see the tracks of a fox, a raccoon, a rabbit or a squirrel. Listen for the hoot of UP a great horned owl or the down- slurred whinny of screech owls around dusk. With the leaves off the trees, you have a good chance of spotting the large, cylindrical shape of a great horned roosting in your neighborhood.

Viewing tips

* Don't disturb animals or disrupt courtship activities. Startling ducks from a pond or causing deer to run can interfere with their finding a mate.

* With leaves off the trees, it's easier to look for wildlife from a distance using binoculars, spotting scopes or telephoto lenses of at least 200 mm.

* The first and last hours of the day are generally the best times to view or photograph wildlife.

* Evergreens, dense shrub thickets and landscaping that bears nuts and berries are particularly good areas to look for animals, because they provide cover and food.

* Wear earth-tone clothes rather than white or electric- bright ski jackets. Against the snow or a drab winter landscape, bright colors announce your presence.

* Use field guides for information and identification, but remember that many animals look different in winter. Short-tailed weasels (ermine), snowshoe hares and white-tailed ptarmigan, for example, all turn from brownish to snow-white in winter.

Ducks

For many ducks, winter is the season for love. Very ritualized courtship displays, some of the most elaborate in the bird world, include the "grunt-whistle": The male duck dips the tip of his bill into the water, gives a shrill, whistling peep, spouts water toward the female of interest, then rears up out of the water. In the "head-up-tail- up," the male raises his wingtips, head and tail briefly, then swims with his neck outstretched. Golden- eyes perform an elaborate display that culminates in what I call "sky-trumpeting." Males point their bills skyward with a grunting brrrt!, kick their legs back with a splash and spout a mini-geyser behind them. It all happens in the blink of an eye.

* Where to look: Thousands of ducks gather in winter on waterways, lakes and ponds throughout the metro area. Watch for them along the South Platte, Cherry Creek and Plum Creek, on Cherry Creek and Chatfield reservoirs and on any area pond, lake or stream.

Bighorn sheep

The behavior of bighorn rams during the mid-November-to- December rut is perhaps the most dramatic of any species', a show I call "battle of the bighorns." Gathered with ewes and lambs on communal rutting grounds, competing rams may jostle, slash, butt and kick one another. Finally, two challengers charge with heads lowered - literally battering rams - colliding horn to horn with a powerful crash that can be heard up to a mile away. These jousts may continue until one finally concedes and staggers off.

* Where to look: Watch for sheep on steep slopes, often at high elevation, along Interstate 70 at the Georgetown Wildlife Viewing Area, in the Big Thompson Canyon along U.S. 34 west of Loveland, near the Fall River entrance and in Horseshoe Park in Rocky Mountain National Park, in the Poudre Canyon west of Fort Collins, on Mount Evans and Pikes Peak and along Highway 285 near Grant. Garden of the Gods Park, in Colorado Springs, celebrates Bighorn Day Feb. 14; gardenofthegods.com.

Snow geese

Colorado's eastern plains might seem an odd place to look for waterfowl, but don't tell that to the tens of thousands of snow geese that spend the winter there, thanks to the many man- made irrigation reservoirs built across the prairie. For Denverites familiar with the large, brownish-gray Canada geese that take over parks and golf courses every winter, the dazzling snow geese are a stunning sight. Snow geese are smaller than Canadas, with shorter necks. They're snow-white, with black wingtips and pinkish bills, though watchers will notice a few blue-gray birds in the crowd. These dark birds aren't a separate species but a color phase of snow goose known as "blue goose."

* Where to look: The many reservoirs and farm fields around Lamar and the southeastern plains are great places to see snow geese. The Sixth Annual High Plains Snow Goose Festival is scheduled for Feb. 20 to 22 in Lamar; lamarchamber.com/goose.

Bald eagles

While some bald eagles spend the summer here, the big convention is in town from November to March, when hundreds of eagles descend on our state. The attractions? Relatively mild winters, open water, waterfowl and prairie dogs. Don't be surprised to see the white heads of bald eagles dotting the trees along Colorado streams, rivers and lakes almost anywhere there's a prey source and limited disturbance.

* Where to look: Chatfield Reservoir and along the South Platte River, at Pueblo Reservoir and along Fountain Creek. Jackson Reservoir in Weld County and John Martin Reservoir near Lamar are good eastern plains sites. Feb. 1 is Eagle Day at Pueblo State Park; eagleday.org.

Mule deer

Have you ever seen a deer buck in fall and thought he looked particularly beefy? The swelling of the buck's neck and shoulders is a response to the breeding season. From late November through December, mule-deer bucks aggressively gather does. With their antlers polished and fully developed, bucks are eager to challenge competing males. They might spar with one another, clashing antlers, though most encounters are more bluster than blood.

* Where to look: Mule deer can be seen anywhere in our state, from prairie grasslands to alpine tundra. They're most numerous in rough shrub lands. Watch for them in Jefferson County Open Space parks such as White Ranch and Elk Meadow, in Eldorado Canyon and Golden Gate Canyon state parks, in Boulder's foothills and in Lory State Park, near Fort Collins.

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