#trackinglife — Public Fediverse posts

Deer rubs and scrapes aren't just scent marking, they're also photoluminescent visual signals.

Makes me wish I had deer-vision goggles: https://deerassociation.com/new-science-rubs-and-scrapes-glow-like-highway-reflectors-to-a-deers-eyes/ #trackinglife #wildlifetracking #immenseworld

Though I've occasionally seen raccoons do this, I'd never had this gait show up in tracks until I trailed one over an open landscape. Here, the canonical side-by-side of their extreme overstep walk morphs into...a lope! #trackinglife #OregonDunes #wildlifetracking

This week I spent half an hour staring at a talus slope near #MountRainier, looking for #pika. (Saw one, too.) #citizenscience #trackinglife #getoutside #nature #conservation

Our hosts made us feel very welcome; perhaps because of this, I felt very much at ease in what was for me a completely new environment. And perhaps there's something to the notion that something in us recognizes landscapes in which, after all, much of our evolution as a species took place, even if we as individuals have never been there. Despite the often brutal heat and the present dangers of the place, I felt at home. #trackinglife

It's not just humans who use driveways and roads! #Wildlife will often make use of these easy, clear ways to get around. #trailcamtuesday #blackbear #conservation #trackinglife

A big difference between this #tracking evaluation and those I've done in the U.S. is that in between each of us giving our individual answer and the evaluator telling us whether we were correct, our group had to come to consensus about what the track ID actually was. While this made the evaluation take a lot longer, I really enjoyed this part of the process and it added a great deal to my own learning. We learned from each other as well as from our evaluators. #trackinglife

Off to do some land work and tracking, including camera checks. There’ll be a lot of human activity recorded but even with the construction it’s striking how much wildlife activity we’ve had. #wildneighbors #trackinglife

SOMEWHERE in the pile of planter pots and unkempt grass in my backyard, there is a junco nest. I couldn't find it, but outraged chirping from both babbies and parents indicate it's there somewhere.

So that part of the yard isn't getting mowed for a bit... #trackinglife #urbanwildlife

Sometimes I get frustrated by my lack of progress in #tracking, but on a hike today I was startled by how many disturbances in the landscape jumped out at me, even if I didn't know exactly which species made them. #Trackinglife has changed the way I see and I have a lot of #gratitude for that.

Totally grossed out a nine year old today by picking apart mountain lion scat to figure out what it had eaten anyway how was your day #trackinglife

First weekend of #tracking class, round 3.

Today we explored lots of poop. It continues to amuse me that beaver poop is basically compressed sawdust. Of course it is.

And I misidentified a mountain lion track as a domestic dog, which is hilarious because people are always doing the opposite. #trackinglife

#trackinglife on the beach, #Ozette Triangle on the #Washington coast. What do you see?

Image 3: Two pairs of tracks side by side, each pair slightly overlapping, showing two toes each with pointed fronts and a cleave between them.

#trackinglife on the beach, #Ozette Triangle on the #Washington coast. What do you see?

Image 2: A pair of tracks in beach sand, showing five toes each and a crescent-shaped palm pad as well as claw marks. The tracks resemble hands, but much smaller.

#trackinglife on the beach, #Ozette Triangle on the #Washington coast. What do you see?

Image 1: A pair of tracks in beach sand, showing four toes with two outer tucked behind the two inner. The larger of the tracks also shows a heel pad.