Whether it’s watching squirrels frolicking in the park, feeding chipmunks in the backyard, or photographing turtles sunning on a log, it generates more than $150 million annually in West Virginia.
Watchable wildlife activities attract more than 1 million resident and non-resident participants who contribute nearly $90 million in retail sales and $156.5 million in total economic activity.
More than 210,000 Mountain State residents take trips for the specific purpose of watching wildlife.
Each year a quarter of a million tourists come to the state for wildlife viewing and photography, according to the DNR.
Together, these wildlife enthusiasts spend almost $55 million in the state on wildlife watching trips and special equipment such as binoculars, spotting scopes and bird identification guides.
But this is nothing new for humans.
In ancient times, young men entered the wilderness as part of their initiation rites.
The primeval forest offered a spiritual encounter with the unknown, provided an opportunity for testing one’s courage and stamina on the path to becoming an adult, linking one’s identity to the tribal family.
The great wilderness of the pre-industrial age has long since vanished, reduced by countless generations of logging, mining, farming, and developing.
And very few of us will ever have the chance to enter and know a wilderness as profoundly as did our ancestors.
Yet there still is great enjoyment to be derived from seeing wildlife, even though a true feeling of wildness may be missing.
For there is a vast difference between watching wildlife and the ability to truly see wildlife and how it interacts—often in curious and revealing ways—with its environment and with the other creatures that share it.
Watching wildlife can be done at a backyard bird feeder, from a car or even while hiking along the shores of a lake or stream.
Setting out to observe wildlife and seeing it, however, take both knowledge and skill.
A high school biology teacher once told me, “Don’t ever let the classroom get in the way of your education.’’
That is sound advice.
Many of us already have become desensitized by books, TV, video games, movies, magazines, lectures, charts, diagrams, formulas, CD-ROMs and 4-wheel drives.
A basic rule underlying all wildlife behavior is that because its habitat is continually changing—light, dark, temperature, food availability—it must constantly adapt to those changes.
So a solid knowledge of these factors will greatly increase your chances of seeing wildlife and, more importantly, observing it with a learning, practiced eye in its natural habitat.
Locating wildlife can be reduced to a basic equation: intersections and patience.
Intersections are those areas where ecosystems meet.Â
There is a place not far from my house where a hardwood bottom with a stream feeds into a pond. And where the stream enters the pond, beavers have built a dam that creates another variation in that ecosystem.
The intersection of such a variety of ecosystems creates a greater diversity of wildlife: it is the best place to look for animal signs, everything from gray squirrels to white-tailed deer.
There are raccoon tracks along the pond’s edge, a well-worn trail where beavers have dragged branches to the water, and maybe a scraped sapling where a white-tailed buck once tried to leave his scent mark. Wild turkeys, like ghosts of centuries past, appear and disappear along the forest floor.
Once you have located one of these intersections, the next step is to find a spot with a good field of view, conceal yourself enough to break up your outline, and wait. Â
It is also a good idea to make yourself as comfortable as possible—to avoid having to shift position as you wait and give yourself away.
(Deer and turkey hunters who hunt from a stand or concealed position know all about this, and when they can remain still, they see lots of game.)
You might not always see what you expect, but if you are patient enough, you’ll always see some kind of wildlife.
And that is when the real fun begins.
One of the greatest pleasures of watching wildlife is discovering behavior that you have never seen before.
I am sure there are many other techniques developed and used by wildlife observers that I have not touched on, especially those of amateur wildlife photographers who spend countless hours recording images, as well as those watchers who are simply bound by a deep fascination for learning about wildlife and what it can teach us.
The deeper the learning, the greater the fascination.
This does not mean that you must give up binoculars or camouflage clothing or any item that will improve your chances of seeing wildlife.
They are merely tools that will help you broaden your understanding and witness nature’s seemingly infinite capacity to surprise.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and more and more folks are turning onto wildlife watching and nature hikes in the Mountain State than ever before.Â
One of the best places to observe a variety of wildlife species is at Grandview State Park. You might not always see what you expect, but if you are patient enough, you will always see wildlife along the myriad trails and hiking thoroughfares. Visitors at the overlook also can see far into the New River Gorge area of the famous Horseshoe Bend. Â
We all come to realize, sooner or later, that all the natural world is a thing of awesome beauty.
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Top o’ the morning!