Best Wildlife Watch

The DOW conducts workshops around the state that amount to a four-hour crash course in how to sharpen your senses, pick the right binoculars, read the habitat and turn yourself into the Crocodile Hunter. Each course ends with a nature walk to put your new skills into action -- for example, studying a coyote family making the rounds of Aurora's Plains Conservation Center. With enthusiastic instructors and a cost of $15 per family, getting wild proves contagious.