Who? What? When? Where? How? Welcome to this incredibly exciting world of interpreting animal tracks and sign. Through tracking we can get a grasp of what’s happening on the landscape without disturbing the animals. We can get a more intimate view of the complex and interrelated lives of animals and more deeply understand their behavior and ecology. 

During this day, we’ll examine various tracks and signs, and explore these arts of questioning to deepen your awareness of the tracks. We will equip you with various tools to document and report tracks and signs for citizen science projects or for further inquiry. We’ll try on some of the core habits of accomplished wildlife trackers to give you direction and practices for your learning journey.

This is a day dedicated to the shapes of different animal tracks and the stories they tell. We will explore the clear print identification of various mammals and how the structure of their paws are related to their lifestyles and evolution. We’ll also explore the world of gait analysis and see how a series of tracks can help illustrate the state of mind of the animal.

A discussion and exploration of the structure of animal skulls and what that can tell us about their diets as well as what that looks like after going through their digestive system. We’ll also go investigate some scats and feeding sign that we find on the trail! We’ll be handling a collection of animal skulls and learning the fundamentals of scat identification.  Scats and Skulls are important tools that tell a story of the ecology of the animal, as well as what food sources are available on the land at a given moment in the season. This is important knowledge for appreciating the significance of various ecosystems, understanding carrying capacity and plant diversity.

An homage to this incredible cervid, who walks on their tipi toes and has satellite dishes for ears. This day will be dedicated to all things deer. We’ll discuss their incredible sense of hearing, their incredible sense of smell, and get to know them in ways few people do. Learn their cycle throughout a day, throughout the seasons, throughout the years, and we’ll offer you a challenge to decipher hard to see tracks and signs.

The winter wildlife tracking series has been run for over 5 years and gives participants a deep dive into the arts of tracking in the winter. We will study and practise clear print ID, track ageing, wildlife ecology, animal gaits, trailing, and we end with an evaluation which boosts people’s confidence and helps integrate all the knowledge. Exact topics per day are subject to slight change depending on the weather conditions. 

February 17th: Day 1
February 24th: Day 2
March 2nd: Day 3
March 9th: Day 4

A day of homage to the wild and mysterious weasel family. These incredible slinky animals are voracious carnivores that greatly impact a landscape, however, few people really know about them, or understand them. We will examine and explore elements of their biology, morphology, ecology and get into the landscape to explore their tracks and sign.

Nothing in the wild is ‘random’ and certainly not the subtle tweets and movements of birds. They speak about the presence of predators, of their romance and family lives, of flowers, seeds and insects, and their morning songs weave a beautiful symphony that calms the heart. Birds tell incredible stories, if only we have the skills and presence to listen. Come dive into the world of Bird Language and understand the messages and stories these birds have to teach us. We will spend time learning about: 

– The 5 voices of songbirds
– Interpreting various alarm calls to find predator animals
– Bird ecology – as it relates to their seasonal habits and what’s going on in the plant world
– Bird tracks and sign 
– Identification via sight and sound
– Practice routines of awareness

We’ll complete a relaxed and fun ‘bird identification field exam’ to help build your confidence and integrate the lessons. 

Dates:
– April 6th: Day 1
– April 20th: Day 2
– May 4th: Day 3