A New Age of Wildlife Watching
By Jeff Koenings, WDFW Director

Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary managers have long known the joys of watching birds at feeding stations or nestlings fledging in the spring. But many other Washingtonians may not know what they're missing – at least until now.

The new age of wildlife watching includes bringing wildlife to people via the Internet. That's what we are starting to do on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) website through our new WildWatchCam program. We began last spring with a video camera set up on a bald eagle nest near Kent, with a live transmission to our website. Since the eaglets have fledged, our cameras are now trained on a maternal colony of very rare bats north of Spokane. Salmon may be the next stars with an underwater camera set-up. You can read more about this exciting program on page five in this newsletter.

Today's technology allows us to help all kinds of people connect with wildlife. Although there's no substitute for the real thing, this is an important first step. When Internet users can watch a bald eagle hatching from an egg in a nest, I think we raise awareness of all our state's wildlife treasures. The next step may be buying a personalized license plate to support wildlife management programs, or developing a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary, or joining a local watershed team to protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat.

Enjoy your front row seats for the live action in your backyards, and check out our WildWatchCams to see some very special species!

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