One of Colorado’s great nature shows is returning for its annual, brief run.

Later this month, greater sandhill cranes are due back en masse to the San Luis Valley, where they stop along their migratory path for the nutritious fields and wetlands. And also for a chance at love. The majestic birds famously mate for life, showing their affection through ancient dances.

Commonly standing 4 feet tall with wings spanning 7 feet, sandhill cranes are thought to be one of the world’s oldest species. And many fans say there is no better place to view them and hear their songs than in the world’s largest alpine valley.

From around the end of February through March, binocular-wielding watchers and photographers head to the area’s wide-open refuges to behold mass flights backdropped by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It is said some 20,000 cranes moving south to north are on the valley floor in early March.

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The 41st annual Monte Vista Crane Festival is set for the weekend of March 8. It’s a three-day celebration of ticketed tours and seminars, with free entry to arts and crafts in the Ski Hi Complex.

But anyone can drive themselves around lands set aside for the migrators: the most popular Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge along with the Alamosa and Baca national wildlife refuges. While the birds can be seen at all hours of the day, photographers know the best viewing to be around sunrise and sunset.

The San Luis Valley cranes arrive from their winter nests in New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico. By April, they will have mostly left for breeding grounds around Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

While the Monte Vista Crane Festival celebrates “unmatched scenery” for viewing, Kearney, Neb. (about a five-hour drive from Denver) calls itself “the sandhill crane capital of the world.” The town’s viewing guide maintains 80% of the world’s sandhill crane population gathers along the Platte River through central Nebraska from mid-February to mid-April.