Ten ways to improve your nature observation skills
Nature viewing is inspiring, unpredictable, frustrating, but ultimately rewarding.
You can enhance your nature viewing experience and even improve your ability to spot wildlife if you master a few techniques. When preparing for a hike or camping trip, take a moment to practice these simple skills and you’ll be amazed at the value it adds to your outdoor experience.
one. Before hitting the track. Study a map of the area noting the shape of the land and where the water sources are. Look for transition areas, fields bordered by forests, or streams that empty into ponds where animals are likely to enter and exit. Your goal is to spot the wildlife before it sees you. Plaid or camouflage print clothing helps to blur your outline, but you also need to be positioned so that your scent, your shadow and your movements don’t give you away.
two. Think like a wild creature. Predators, including humans, have eyes on the front of their heads; in prey species, the eyes are on the side of the head. Predators have better depth perception, while prey have the advantage of a wide field of vision. The sight, sound and smell of a human being drives away most animals. If you get used to noticing movement at the edges of your visual range, you will see more than if you look straight ahead or down at your feet. I find it helpful to practice developing my peripheral vision and deep breathing when stuck in traffic or waiting in a long line. Practice the fox walk (keep your weight on your back foot until you gently lower your front foot) to help you walk calmly in the woods.
3. use all your senses. Put your hands behind your ears to help you locate the source of sounds. Learn to distinguish songs and calls of birds, frogs, rodents and other animal voices. Each expression has a meaning, whether to alert others to a predator, advertise a territory, attract a mate, or locate a family member. Have you ever noticed that animals have a wet nose? Moisten your nose to improve your sense of smell. Feel the difference between the packed dirt on the trail and the loose leaf litter and branches off the trail. This is useful when traveling at night. Practice walking short distances with your eyes closed. Did your hand touch that spider web or that sticking out branch or did you walk towards it? Trust your intuition. If you feel like you’re being watched, a curious or frightened animal may be out of the way waiting for you to move or walk away.
Four. practice practice practice. In addition to developing your peripheral vision, try walking like a fox to see how close you can get to your cat or dog before your pet notices you. If you have access to a pond or lake, try walking with foxes to see how close you can get to a duck, goose, or green frog. Try to sit quietly for five minutes, gradually increasing the time you can sit still. Many people use simple deep breathing exercises to help slow down while remaining alert.
5. rent rent rent. Now that you’ve studied your map, keep an eye out for those transition areas on your walk. As you approach these areas, slow down and focus your vision on the more distant terrain, scanning the area. Find a spot with a slight elevation, a rock or tree to support your back, dappled shade to soften your outline, and a dry, padded place to sit and wait. The wind carries your scent even further than 25 feet, so go downwind. You want your scent to blow behind you, not in front of you.
6. Dawn and dusk are prime time. Plan to arrive at your destination at least 90 minutes before sunrise (first light) or stay an hour or so after sunset. This is the time when most animals are active. Some go home for the day; others are just beginning their nocturnal activities. If it is calm and still, blending in with the environment, the animals will go about their normal activities instead of hiding or running away.
7. Mix. Even the lowest human towers over most wildlife. With our forward vision looking at them, our sudden jerky head and hand movements, our heavy gait, and the fact that our scent travels 25 feet in all directions on a windless day, most animals will detect us sooner. that we notice them. . As you travel to your destination, stop frequently, explore the area. If you see a horizontal line between the vertical trees, is it the backbone of a four-legged animal or the broken branch of a tree? On sunny days, use shaded areas to hide your shadow. The light hitting your back outlines your silhouette, which is just as revealing as when your shadow stretches out in front of you. To hide human scent, some nature watchers store their outdoor clothing in a box with wood chips or shred native plants.
8. Observe wildlife successfully. The more you know about where an animal is likely to live, whether it’s active during the day or night, where it builds or finds shelter, when it breeds or migrates, the easier it will be to narrow down your identification if you just take a look. I see more animals when I am writing, relaxed, still and using peripheral vision. Posing no threat, various species of animals, including blue jays, catbirds, chipmunks, and even deer, will come out of the shadows to look at you. There are noise-making techniques that will lure animals out of hiding, but since humans pose such a great threat to wildlife, I refrain from doing so.
9. develop patience. In our results-oriented culture, speed is rewarded, but in the natural world this simply doesn’t apply. The more sounds, sights, smells, textures, and patterns you can identify, the more you’ll realize how much you’ve been missing all this time.
10 lifelong learning. I just found out that it’s easiest to approach rabbits just before a storm. I also just found out that the robins I watched from my window all winter have migrated to Canada and the robins that feed on grass worms all spring and summer came here from the south. I still don’t know why these things are true, but I’ll find out eventually. Mastering any skill takes a lifetime. I spend as much time reading and researching as I do in the field. It is the best investment I have ever made.