Improving Your Chances Bring binoculars, spotting scope or camera with a telephoto lens to get a better view of wildlife. It's best to avoid moving in for a closer look, which might flush an animal from a favorite perch, feeding area, den or nest. Remember, you're not the only person out there looking for wildlife. Repeated human disturbances near nests or feeding sites cause animals to flee, leaving their young vulnerable to weather, predators or starvation. Even if you scare an animal only once, you add to the cumulative effect of repeated disturbances that may result in nesting failure or site abandonment.
Seasons are also a factor in successful wildlife watching.
Owls are easier to spot during the winter, warblers are at their highest concentration in spring and seeing them is easier before the trees leaf out. Butterflies and black bears are best sighted in summer and waterfowl are abundant during spring and fall migration. The hours around dawn and dusk are often the most visually productive. Look for mammals and birds then. Mid-day in spring, summer and fall will bring out many reptiles, amphibians and insects, so that's when you're more likely to see turtles basking on a log or butterflies pollinating flowers.