The Channel Islands Tracking Team hosted a Track and Sign Certification in Ventura, California on November 18–19, 2017. We saw the tracks of 32 species, including 17 mammals, 8 birds, 4 herps, 2 invertebrates, and marks of a branch moving in the wind.…continue reading
Marcus Reynerson and Bob Ollerton hosted a Track and Sign Specialist Certification in the deserts east of San Diego, California on November 11-12, 2017. Participants at Specialist Certifications have to answer 57 very complex questions over an arduous 2 days. Two evaluators…continue reading
I have been working for several years now with Zoe Jewell and Sky Alibhai from WildTrack on a system for identifying individual mountain lions from their tracks. We recently published an article in the open access journal PLOS One and it's available to read…continue reading
The Earth Native Wilderness School organized a Track and Sign Certification in and around Austin Texas from May 27-28, 2017. We saw the tracks of 30 species, including 16 mammals, 5 birds, 3 herps, and 6 invertebrates. We spent the first day at a pond at…continue reading
The San Diego Tracking Team organized a Track and Sign Certification in San Diego, California from May 6-7, 2017. We saw the tracks of 27 species, including 15 mammals, 6 birds, 3 herps, and 3 invertebrates. We spent the first day at Lake…continue reading
Dave Scott organized a Track and Sign Specialist Certification at Big Bend National Park, Texas on April 8-9, 2017. Specialist Certifications are arduous. Participants have to answer 57 very difficult questions over 2 days. Two evaluators (1 standard and 1 external) are present at Specialist…continue reading
Marcus Reynerson organized a Track and Sign Specialist Certification in the Los Padres National Forest, California on November 12-13, 2016. Specialist Certifications are arduous. Participants have to answer 57 very difficult questions over 2 days. Two evaluators (1 standard and 1 external) are present…continue reading
The Channel Islands Tracking Team hosted a Track and Sign Certification in Ventura, California on November 5–6, 2016. We saw the tracks of 26 species, including 15 mammals, 4 birds, 3 herps, 3 invertebrates, and marks of a branch moving in the wind. We…continue reading
There are few tracking challenges as burdened with lore and conflicting information as how to tell a buck from doe. Some common methods I've heard suggest that bucks show dewclaws, or drag their feet, others say that buck tracks tend to splay more, and one…continue reading
Casey McFarland and I conducted a Track and Sign Specialist Certification for Earth Native Wilderness School in Austin, Texas from May 21-22, 2016. During a specialist certification, participants have to answer 50 very difficult questions and 7 bonus (extremely difficult)…continue reading