Nature Watching: How to Find and Observe Wildlife

Learn about the field of wildlife tracking and how it allows us to intimately know the natural world and environment. Grasp what kinds of knowledge and information tracking reveals, both about wildlife and about ourselves. Preview the different aspects of tracking you’ll study in the course, from animal camouflage and movement to trails, migration, marking behaviors, and much more.

Take account of the huge wealth of insect life found in our ecosystems, and of the vital role of insects in the food chain. Explore the world of beetles, where to see them, and the characteristic tracks they leave. Also learn about the unique trails of caterpillars and millipedes, the lore of the cicada and the three kinds of sign they leave, and the picturesque sign of slugs and snails.

Delve into the wonder of bird feathers, beginning with the anatomy and function of flight feathers, as they provide propulsion and lift. Study four categories of wing design, serving functions from maneuverability and distance flying to high speed and soaring. Learn how to identify birds by their feathers found in the wild, and about the information that feathers reveal.

Look closely at some common animal tracks, and the concept of signatures, the features of a track that allow for quick, accurate identification. Begin with the tracks of cats and beavers, as they appear in different ground conditions. In the examples of deer, dogs, cats, and rabbits, see how track signatures can identify behaviors, and how we can identify animals from fragmentary tracks.

View animal migration and trails from two perspectives. First, investigate why animals migrate, and what we can learn about their behavior from their trails. Then, take account of how animal movement benefits ecosystems and the cycle of life. Learn about the best places to look for trails, how to study the ground for tracks, and key questions to ask when examining and interpreting trails.

Study the essentials of how to blend into the environment when tracking wildlife, in terms of both camouflage and movement. Modeling how animals do it, grasp how to adjust your movement to a relaxed pace and demeanor, while pausing, looking, and listening. Also, practice complete stillness. Take note of how to dress to match the surroundings, and other key strategies for going unnoticed.

Bird nests show us how birds think, and the ways they interact with the landscape around them. Learn the basics of nest identification, beginning with how nests are built in distinct layers. Note the four types of materials birds use, and the spectrum of nest types. Witness the nest building of redwing blackbirds, robins, and cliff swallows, which tells us much about the birds’ lifestyles.

Consider sleep as an essential activity for animals, which carries risk. Study bedding spots, as they reveal the relationship between an animal and the land. Explore the bedding behavior of deer, and how deer feeding is related to bedding behavior. Look at the features of a deer bed, where to find them, and what we can learn from impressions and marks in deer beds.

Tapping into your own senses is one of the fundamentals in building the skill of wildlife tracking, and in deepening your sensitivity to the landscapes you encounter. Grasp how we absorb the surrounding environment through our senses, and practice exercises to heighten your hearing, sight, touch, and smell. Experience how sensory work can transform our appreciation of the natural world.

Look into the amazing ways animals gather and convey information. Investigate scent marking, how scent is produced in animal physiology, and the many methods animals use to apply their scent to the environment. Take account of the numerous uses of scent, from delineating territory and intraspecies communication to “marking spots,” places where animals keep tabs on their own and other species.

Examine how animals communicate and what we can learn from their calls. Focusing on bird vocalization, develop your awareness of birds’ vocal inflections and body language, as they reflect conditions from well-being to danger. Note the benefits of tuning in to the “soundscape” of wildlife voices, in connecting us to place and building awareness of what’s happening in the woods.

Explore the fascinating range of animal sign found on trees. Begin with sapsuckers, woodpeckers who drill beautiful sap wells on many tree species. Observe how animals mark trees for various kinds of communication, nest in tree cavities, and use bark and other tree material for nest building. Also, learn how many animals consume cambium, the inner vascular tissue of trees.

Investigate buck rubs, where male deer mark trees with their antlers, a form of social and mating expression. Explore the incredible process of antler growth and learn how antlers figure in mating and communication. Then, study the intriguing mating rituals of cottontail rabbits, and the characteristic tracks their mating activity leaves in the earth.

Contemplate the value of maps in orienting us to our environment. Using a compass, create your own internal map of your surroundings, connecting with your home landscape, using landmarks such as natural features, bodies of water, buildings, and meaningful places. From the center of your map, learn to track the movements of the Sun and Moon, and how to tell the time using the constellations.

Tracking places an animal not only in space, but in time. Learn to estimate the relative age of animal tracks. Assess the quality of a track; the spot where the track is found; and grasp how fresh tracks change through the effects of time, weather, and ground conditions. Note how we can reconstruct much about an animal’s movements and behavior by the features and timeline of their tracks.

Animal life below ground also leaves evidence for us as trackers. Discover the massive tunnel complexes of prairie dogs, and their many benefits to ecosystems. Consider the challenges of identifying holes and burrows, and some key parameters for examining them. Observe the burrowing habits of badgers, bears, and others, and what the contours of digs tell us about who made them.

Animal scats reveal the relationship between an animal and the landscape and what resources are available to them, offering a range of valuable information for tracking. Study how animals manage food digestion differently, leading to unique features of scats that aid identification. See what we can learn about animal movements, diet, lifestyle, and behavior from the scats they leave behind.

As a core skill of tracking, learn to distinguish front/back and right/left animal tracks, first comparing those of dogs and cats. Investigate raccoons’ hand-like tracks and note that understanding their structure allows us to identify similar features in otters, mink, bears, and many other mammals. Finish with the tracks of each wild canine in the United States, and the tracks of birds.

Gait patterns offer a world of information about a moving animal. See how the way an animal moves and its speed are reflected in its tracks. Learn to recognize four basic gait patterns that apply to a spectrum of mammals: the walk, trot, lope, and gallop, plus two variations. Take account of what we can discern from these patterns about an animal’s behavior, movements, and emotional state.

Take a broad look at the strategies animals use to survive in winter landscapes, encompassing those of birds, mammals, insects, and amphibians. For winter tracking, investigate trail patterns in snow, and how gait patterns change according to snow conditions. Also, grasp how snow texture, moisture, and temperature affect how an animal’s tracks appear, and how they change over time.

Learn how to practice the basics of trailing. Tune in to how tracks look in different ground conditions. Scan for obvious routes the animal may travel; for patches of ground showing clear evidence of tracks; and orient yourself with anchor tracks, the last clear tracks along the trail. Build the skill of scanning out ahead, with eyes up.

Refine your skill in trailing an animal with the strategies seasoned trackers use. Learn to intentionally control your pace, move smoothly, and probe the entire landscape around you. Build the habit of constantly monitoring the direction of air currents, as an aid to going undetected. Pay attention to all sounds around you and grasp how to recover an animal’s trail when you lose it.

Take stock of the amazing ecological role of beavers, as they deeply affect the ecosystems where they live and the other animals around them, altering landscapes and transforming forests into wetlands and pond systems. Take note of the many benefits of beavers’ activity, their remarkable dams and scent mounds, and compare beavers’ impact on the planet with our own, both positive and negative.

Look briefly at the work of CyberTracker Conservation, as it exists to preserve tracking expertise. Conclude the course with an informal exam, highlighting important principles and materials from the episodes. Use the exam questions to review what you’ve learned and expand on it, as you revisit subjects such as camouflage, track aging, marking, burrows, and more.