Week 1: Introduction to the Art of Tracking

Choose a “sit spot” near your home and visit there as often as possible- try for at least 15 minutes per day. If this is your first time starting a sit-spot practice you can read more detailed instructions here or watch this video.

It’s important to practice slow mindful movement as you walk to and from your sit spot. Try to move as slowly and calmly as possible so you don’t scare off all the birds and animals.

Leave your phone and your field guides at home (for now) but feel free to bring your binoculars and journal with you. Try to spend the first several minutes after arriving at your spot just being there, settling into stillness, and tuning into all of your senses.

Try to make a habit of visiting your sit spot every day throughout the duration of this course. Many of the Field Assignments in this course can be done from this spot and the more often you visit the more you’ll start to notice! Also, try to visit your spot at different times of the day. Notice how your spot might feel different first thing in the morning vs in late afternoon, or even after dark.

Without looking in a guide book, list all the mammal species you can think of which could be found in the wilds of Western NC. I like to work my way from the largest mammals to the smallest. Don’t worry about differentiating every bat, vole, and shrew species, just a basic list of the critters whose tracks and sign we might encounter. This can include species like domestic dogs and cats which are often roaming off-leash, stray, or feral, but don't worry about including livestock or anything which you wouldn't be likely to find outside of a farm setting.

While making your list circle, underline, or otherwise mark the mammals who you might expect to find around your home sit spot.

Once you’ve racked your brain and made your best attempt at a complete WNC mammal list, check your list against this official list adapted from the folks at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

One day, after arriving and settling in at your sit spot, use a pencil to sketch a simple bird’s-eye-view map of the area around you (50-100ft or so in each direction) in your journal. Draw some of the most prominent features such as large trees, thick brush, any water features (creek, pond etc.), human-made structures such as houses or roads and anything else that stands out. It doesn’t need to be perfectly accurate or beautiful in any way, just pretend you’re a child making a treasure map and have fun!

The point of this activity isn’t to make your map beautiful or perfectly accurate, but to have fun and to get even more intimately acquainted with this unique piece of land and the beings you share it with. See an example of my sit spot map with details here.

Go back to the Mammal Species List you made a few days ago and FROM YOUR OWN MIND, start adding some life history details for each species. Start with one or two of the most common species (racoon, opossum, cottontail, squirrel, deer etc.) then work your way down the list, completing as many as you like. For each species make your best approximation or guess for the following details and life history traits: 

• approximate length of animal at maturity. Include both a hip to shoulder length & full length

• approximate size of their tracks  

• habitats where they are most likely to be found

• diet and description of scat  

• Any other distinctive sign likely to be encountered from this animal such as feeding sign, digging/burrowing, nesting/bedding, trails & runs, scent marking/ communication sign, antler sheds, fur etc. 
  

Remember to treat this activity as an inventory of your current knowledge. Don’t crack your books, do any research, or attempt to complete this perfectly accurately at this point. Just take note of what you know for certain, what you think you know, and what you don’t know. Here's my Ecological Inventory for Gray Squirrel for an example.

Be honest and be kind to yourself - no need to shame yourself for not already having intimate knowledge of the life histories of these critters.* 

After completing each species, take a look in your field guide or do some internet research to check your answers and fill in some of your unknowns. Again, no need to be super thorough, just follow your passion and take a break if it starts feeling like work instead of fun!

*Most of us in this course have likely been raised within cultures that have devalued ecological knowledge while elevating the value of knowledge about the rise and fall of stock prices, or the head-spinning details of geopolitics, or what Kim Kardashian was wearing at the Grammys. For most of human history, (and still within land-based communities around the globe who have survived colonization and and resisted industrialization) people were/are taught much of this knowledge from a young age. We have some catching up to do and it might take some time. So be patient and compassionate with your learning process.

For today's field assignment, go to a spot with some nice tracking substrate (creekbank, soft sand, mud puddle etc.) and try to find a relatively clear track. Once you've found one, complete an "Orientation Tracking Journal" worksheet (from Animal Tracking Basics by Jon Young and Tiffany Morgan). On the worksheet you'll include a sketch of the track itself, along with a bunch of ecological context including maps and weather observations. You can either print off copies of the worksheet or replicate it in your journal.

You won't be graded on this so feel free to complete the worksheet to whatever degree feels the most helpful and fun. You can also make up your own journaling format in your notebook and include whichever prompts from this worksheet you'd like.