Southeastern Colorado Wildlife Photo Survey

Some landowners in Southeastern Colorado are in the process of developing blinds and other amenities for wildlife photographers. As you know, most of the Eastern Colorado plains is privately owned. Your answers to the following questions can help interested landowners to provide you and other photographers with the amenities you would like to have.

Please place a check in the blank next to the Colorado wildlife species you would travel to photograph from a blind. (No one can guarantee a particular species will be present on any given day. We are talking about a blind from which the species, and many others, can be seen most days during the season you would come.)
swift fox Northern Cardinal Blue Grouse
Lesser Prairie Chicken Scaled Quail Wild Turkey
Eared Grebe Green Heron White-faced Ibis
Sora American badger Flammulated Owl
Burrowing Owl Barn Owl pronghorn
Mississippi Kite Mountain Plover Eastern Bluebird
other (please list)

How far would you travel to reach photography blinds with frequent sightings of some less common or more spectacular Colorado plains wildlife species, as well as many common ones?
What is the most you would pay to reserve use of a blind for one day? Assume that the blind is likely to be visited by one of the region's four species you would most like to photograph and that it would comfortably hold you and one other photographer who will be quiet and respectful of you and the wildlife. (It is unlikely that permanent blinds could be made available for $50 or less per day.)

What is the most you would pay per day for the following accommodations?
 
Site for a tent or camper and access to a bathroom or outhouse. You bring food and prepare it on your own if no town nearby.
Cabin with stove, refrigerator and comfortable beds with linen provided.
Motel room for two people within ten miles of blind locations. You eat out.
Nice Bed 'n' Breakfast within five miles of blind locations. Lunch, dinner on your own.
Comfortable room in someone's home within five miles of blind locations.
Full lodging with all meals. Adequate, but not fancy. Within five miles of blind locations.
Full lodging with all meals. Done with style. Availability of other activities for you or your family members—ranch activities, historic tours and stories, star gazing, barn dances , hayrides, etc.


Please tell us a little about how you practice your wildlife photography.

  How many days per month do you usually photograph wildlife during the following seasons:
 
Spring?

days/month
Summer?

days/month
Autumn?

days/month
Winter?

days/month

Check in the blank to indicate the type of equipment you use:
  Camera:    Film    Digital    Mechanically stabilized camera
  Maximum focal length lens:        Mechanically stabilized lens

Have you ever traveled outside the state where you usually live to photograph wildlife? Yes   No
Have you ever traveled outside the United States to photograph wildlife? Yes   No
Have you ever gone on a professionally led wildlife photography tour in the U.S.A.? Yes   No
Have you ever gone on a professionally led wildlife photography tour outside the U.S.A.? Yes   No
Do you routinely lead wildlife photography tours for profit? Yes   No
Are you a professional photographer? Yes   No


Page Revised June 24, 2007