Conservation officer gives tips on animals to watch for as spring begins

With spring beginning animals will be popping up throughout the southeast, with plenty of animal watchers also taking to the countryside.

That can include animals that are returning from migration, have been around all winter, or are just waking up.

Senior Conservation Officer Lindsey Leko walks through some of the animals that southeast residents can watch for this spring.

"Moose are always a constant, right? You're always going to have your moose and your deer roaming around. I think that as the snow starts to melt and as it gets a little bit warmer, we tend to see waterfowl nesting along the water along the side of the road, and then the geese and the ducks like to kind of hang out along the shoulder of the road where they're nesting."

As well, he expects people will be able to find a few sharp-tailed grouse and hungarian partridge on Saskatchewan's grid roads.

Those, along with other birds, should be watched for especially as people are driving on roads.

"They like to kind of congregate on the side of the road too and sometimes they might not flush until you're going by. So if you see them up ahead, best to give them a bit of a wide berth and give them the space that they need so that they don't fly up and get killed and then damage your car. It's amazing what even a small little Hungarian Partridge can do to our new vehicles nowadays when they hit your grill, so it's best to try and avoid them as much as you can" 

For those who might go out and look for animals, Leko recommends they make sure they're allowed to be on the land they'll be watching for animals on.

"Whether it's a snowmobile or an ATV or any vehicle, you must have right of access to that land. There's lots of public land out there where people who watch and photograph wildlife, there's lots of public land out there that they have access to - wildlife lands, mitigation lands, all that kind of stuff in and around Weyburn and Estevan. But if you're on private land, you want to make sure that you have permission from the landowner.