Wildlife Wednesday. What is happening in the Estes Valley? The beginning of March ushers in a new season.

The stage is set. March, 1978 12 moose were captured in the Uinta Mountains of Utah for translocation to Colorado. After a vet check and fitting with telemetry collars 4 bulls, 7 cows, and one cow calf moose were released into a one hectare enclosure to acclimate to their new surroundings of the Big Bottom of the Illinois River in North Park, Colorado. A few days later they set out on their own and the rest, as they say, is history.

Wildlife Wednesday, Valentines edition. The Estes Valley is the home to many ”love birds”, animals that mate for life. The list is long and includes Bald and Golden Eagles, Red-tailed hawks, Canada geese, crows, ravens, magpies, and Northern flickers to name a few. But not all “love birds” are feathered.

Mule deer are starting to loose their antlers. It seems like every day I see more and more antlerless bucks…

The groundhog, also known as woodchuck, is the marmot species found in the Eastern half of the United States. While similar in appearance to the marmot species found around the Estes Valley, the Yellow-bellied marmot, there are some key differences.

Michelle and George Hurni own forty-five acres above Mary's Lake. In 2022, The Hurni’s received a grant through the Mary’s Lake Forest Health Project, a project initiated and designed by the Estes Valley Water Coalition with the support of the Colorado State Forest Service and Northern Water.

On Sat., October 15, the second annual fishing line and tackle cleanup, sponsored by the Wandering Wildlife Society of the Estes Valley Watershed Coalition, was held at Lake Estes. Twenty-two volunteers combed the lake’s shoreline retrieving fishing line and trash, and, due to the lowered level of the lake, they were also able to walk out into the lakebed and clean the areas near the shore.

New Aspen trees are thriving after the East Troublesome fire of 2020. Aspens trees are pioneer species and require disturbances like fires to survive. Aspen groves are colonies of trees all connected through a common root system. Each tree is a clone of the others. While individual Aspen trees are relatively short lived (generally less than 100 years) Aspen groves can live for thousands of years. In the right conditions, Aspens can reproduce by seed, but most commonly they reproduce by sprouting from the root system of the grove.

While there are lots of birds in and around the Estes Valley right now, it is the butterflies that have captured my attention lately. Here are a few that I’ve seen recently. A great way to differentiate a butterfly from a moth is by looking at its antennae. A butterfly's antennae are long and thin with a bulb at the end. A moth's antennae are feathery (with olfactory senses) so that they can smell better.

Happy Earth Day! The Estes Valley Watershed Coalition is celebrating Earth Day this year by honoring trees. Healthy forests are what make this area vibrant and resilient. It is hard to imagine how trees can thrive during the valley’s harsh winters and short summers, but the trees that live here are as resourceful as the residents. So, what trees call the Estes Valley home? Here is a listing of the more common trees in the area.

Beauty and the beast. What does the Spring Beauty and the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick have in common? Both are starting to emerge here in the Estes Valley right now.

It sure seems like there are a lot of Turkey Vultures around Lake Estes lately. This could be because new fledglings are now grouping together with adults or because birds that nested in the north are migrating their way through Colorado. For whatever reason, they are quite a sight. These large raptors are unmistakable with their red-bald heads and their V-like soar. They eat almost exclusively carrion (with a preference of the day-old variety).

Mountain lions have been in the news a lot lately and for good reason. Two dogs were attacked and it seems like every day one is recorded on a trail or security camera. Mountain lions are one of our most intriguing and mysterious animals. They are masters of stealth, spending their entire lives trying to be invisible, never seen, like a ghost of the forest. Just the sight of a track can send one’s heart rate soaring. While winter is often viewed as the season of scarcity, winter is the time of year that cougars thrive in the Estes Valley.

This past Saturday (3/20/21), volunteers with the Wandering Wildlife Society (WWS) and the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute (CARRI) worked together and placed several bluebird nest boxes.

Springtime is chaotic in the Estes Valley. While the sun shines brighter with each passing day, snowstorms come and go at random. The ungulates (deer, elk and moose) can’t figure out which fur coat to wear and are counting the days for the shrubs and grasses to green up so that they can finally eat something nutritious. Bluebirds are the season’s first arrivals and it never ceases to amaze me that they can find anything to eat! After 4-6 months of waiting out winter, black bears emerge from their dens to find a sometimes bleak or snow-covered landscape. We all know that black bears eat a lot in the fall, but what do they do during the rest of the year? In this article, I’ll discuss some of the more fascinating aspects of black bear biology and how bears make the most of each season.

The Estes Valley Watershed Coalition has three main goals – healthy water, healthy forests and healthy wildlife.  Of course, they are all interconnected and each ecosystem has its unique challenges.  For many of us, the summer 2020 wildfire season is a distant memory, but for some, it is an ongoing burden.  This summer and fall showed us what happens when forests are stressed.  While one can point the “blame game” at forest management or historic wildfire suppression, that really isn’t helpful at this point.  Let’s look at what happened.

It has been a cold, dry and windy winter in the Estes Valley so far, and every time the mercury drops, we wonder about all the animals that brave the elements day after day. We put on more clothes, put another log on the fire and turn up the heat, but what do they do?

Now that the days are growing shorter and a chill is in the air, it is one of the most special times in the Estes Valley. The elk rut!