Bill Marple stops by again to teach us about tracking.

Our guest blogger is Bill Marple an instructor at the Tracker School in New Jersey. He gives classes on tracking animals and humans in the wildereness and on the streets. I’m so glad he is allowing me to add his post to our site and share his expertise with you. Now without further ado Bill Marple (Applause!)

Hi Magda,

Well, I am excited, as we are all one step closer
to making the tracking update interactive! As
you’ll see below, I now am able to post photos
in my emails to you. Yes, after much head-scratching,
phone-calling, and, well, out and out cursing,
I finally figured it out(actually it was much
easier than I made it-of course!). Soon, we’ll be
able to post video as well!

So, the subject line reads “WOODY
WOODPECKER CAUGHT ON FILM,” but as
you’ll soon notice, that’s not totally true. However,
I lied to you on purpose, in order to highlight
the power of tracking in observation in awareness.
Check out the two photos below:

I took these photos in northern Vermont.
As you can see, Woody is nowhere to be found.
Yet, I know he was here. How could I be
sure about this? Well, there’s a couple of things
about animals, birds, and beasts in general that
are useful to consider when interpreting tracks
and sign. To begin with, here’s one of the
Golden Rules of Sign tracking:

*According to species, animals tend to leave the
same type of sign no matter where you find them*

This means that most animals will leave
almost exactly the same type of sign, no
matter what geographical area you find
them in. And, that sign is specific to
that type of species. For example, I
could find a grey squirrel nest in New
Hampshire, and one in Florida, and if I
compared the two, they would be of
almost exactly the same type of construction
with the exception of the material used.

This is so powerful in sign tracking!
As you begin to notice different types of
sign, and relate them to a species, you’ll
begin to see them wherever you go.
Sign tracking is incredibly important
when determining what animals are in
an area, and once you get comfortable
with it, it truly is possible to determine
the animal activity “at a glance!”

For instance, when I took the photo of
the above tree, and forest floor surrounding
it, there was no doubt in my mind that it
was a Pileated Woodpecker that caused
the hole and wood chips. How do I know
this? Let’s consider a few things:

1. The holes themselves are huge and the wood chips are huge.
-Only a large bird could have done
this. It wasn’t the result of several small
birds or insects over the course of days. The
age of the hole showed it was done in one
“chipping.” So, it had to have been one bird.
As well, the sides of the hole didn’t have
all sorts of scratches, chips, tears, etc, as if
several animals had clawed it out. It was
neatly chipped out, lending it to look like
the work of one bird with a large bill.
Raptors and Owls are big enough to do this,
but their bills and facial construction don’t support it.

2. The holes indicate a feeding behavior, not a nesting behavior.
-As you can see, their was no nest built
here, nor is it a good place for a nest. This
hole was made for the purpose of getting
food(insects) out of the wood. Generally
speaking, only one type of bird pecks holes
in trees for food(woodpeckers), and only
one type of pecking bird is big enough to
have caused it: A Pileated Woodpecker.

3. The holes are “square shaped.”
-It’s difficult to see in the photo, but
the holes themselves are “squarish” or
“rectangularish.” This is a dead giveaway
for a Pileated Woodpecker. Pileateds need
large trees to feed on, and when they peck
them, they typically go deep into the wood,
and leave a distinctly “square” or “rectangular”
shaped hole behind. No other bird in North
America leaves a hole that big, and of that shape.
You can count on them leaving it behind
wherever they’ve been feeding. With all
this in mind, I can say conclusively “A
Pileated Woodpecker did this!”

Pileated Woodpecker’s are one of my favorite
birds. Maybe it’s because I loved watching
Woody Woodpecker growing up as a kid, but
more than likely, the Pileated is one of the
first birds I observed and began to associate
the sign they leave with the bird itself. If you
apply this to other animals, I think you’ll be
pleasantly surprised at how predictable animals
turns out to be. You’ll soon attributing burrows,
nests, dens, browse, etc with specific animals!

Have fun getting out there sign tracking, and I’ll catch up with you on the next update!

Bill Marple
trackerupdate.marple@gmail.com