Birders make good visitors. They like to rise before the crack of dawn, so they turn in early. They don’t make a lot of noise. They like to linger in a spot and notice the details that other people miss. And they’re not given to littering.
That’s why bird tourism is growing so fast. Rural communities are learning that birders will come in the off-season and appreciate the natural beauty of a place. They don’t need much to keep themselves entertained. Give them a pair of binoculars and something interesting to look at and they’re good.
So it is in southeastern Colorado, where the High Plains Snow Goose Festival is expected to attract several hundred people to Lamar and environs, Friday through Feb. 25.
The festival honors the lesser snow goose, a common visitor to the high plains. Sunrise and sunset guided tours will give birders the opportunity to watch thousands of geese in two color phases (snow white and off-gray, called the blue goose) taking off and landing during their spring migration.
Pete Dunne, author of nine books, founder of the World Series of Birding and director of the Cape May Bird Observatory in New Jersey, leaves his usual habitat to keynote the festival and lead several walks and talks.
Other sessions will concentrate on raptors, bluebirds, the lesser prairie chicken and the new Colorado Birding Trail.
More than birds
While the Snow Goose Festival gets it name from birds, there’s a lot more going on than just talk about plumage and mating calls. Three events on Saturday focus on Camp Amache, the site near Granada, where thousands of Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II. Students from Granada High School will give a presentation showcasing many hours of research they’ve done. Author Bill Hosokawa will speak about his childhood years at Amache, and there’s a field trip to the site.
A nature arts and crafts fair, a session for beginning birders, kids’ activities, talks about WPA projects and canyon rock art, and the Taste of Lamar (music! shopping! restaurants!) round out the weekend.
Organizers have even thought to arrange events for the trip into Lamar on Friday and the journey home.
Coming or going, you can stop at the new John W. Rawlings Museum on U.S. 50 in Las Animas and enjoy a bowl of buffalo green chili. The museum will be open from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, showing off its restored historic digs, art gallery and Southeast Colorado Historic Trails, which connect Boggsville and Bent’s Old Fort.
There’s also a bird tour around the reconstructed buildings of Boggsville, the first nonmilitary settlers’ outpost in the area, an early trading post and farming community on the Santa Fe Trail. It was named after Thomas O. Boggs, the son of the Missouri territorial governor, who arrived in 1840 and ran sheep along the Purgatoire. Kit Carson moved there in 1867. It was a busy spot until the Kansas Pacific Railway ran north of it and established Las Animas in 1873.
Eads residents will lead tours around Jackson’s Pond, there’s a wildlife tour at John Martin Reservoir State Park (white tail deer! bobcats! great horned owls!) and lots of snacking, browsing and antiquing opportunities in Eads, Kit Carson, Hugo and other small towns along the way.
Lisa Everitt is a freelance writer who lives in Arvada. Contact her at lisaeveritt@comcast.net.
The details
The High Plains Snow Goose Festival weekend runs from Friday to Feb. 25 in and around Lamar. For the full schedule, a registration form and information on places to stay, restaurant and things to do, visit www.lamar chamber.com/goose/index.htm, e-mail the Lamar Chamber of Commerce at lamarchamber@bresnan.net or call Linda Groat at the Colorado Division of Wildlife at 719-336-6608.
The “Off the Beaten Path Guide to Specialty Shops” tells you where to stop along the U.S. 287 corridor. Merchants and bed and breakfast owners from Hugo to Springfield welcome you to slow down and see the hidden treasures in their houses, storefronts and restored barns. For a copy, stop at participating businesses, e-mail Cindy Perry, owner of Thursdays-on-Maine in Eads and the Tucked Inn in Kit Carson, at cdperry@rebeltec.net, or call 719-962-3136.
