If you've been outside at all this winter no doubt you've seen animal tracks in the snow. Much like bird watching in that watchers identify what they see, animal tracking is a similar activity.
It's both fun and interesting to figure out and identify what critter is making those tracks in the snow under your bird feeder, or out of the woodpile you have stacked in your yard.
About all you'll need is a notebook to record the track you see-mainly to identify it later with a guide-a pencil or pen, and a camera to take a picture of what you saw.
Now it's up to you. Stay in your yard and be content with the tracks you find and your ability to identify them or branch out by going to a local park or nature trail and perhaps see more of a variety of tracks.
Watch for animal droppings or scat as it is often called. Sometimes you see a tuft of hair or a feather on the ground. These things are all clues to go along with the tracks you find.
Read more about in the sports section in this Sunday's Oakland Press. Happy tracking!
As a kid growing up on Susin Lake, it was one skill us boys relied on doing. I doubt today if a kid saw a track they would even know an animal made it. An you can forget Cow Plop scat.
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