Article Surfing Archive

You are already familiar with some tracks and traces of animals and you know that if you want to observe animals or photograph them you first have to track down their crossings, runs, and drinking and feeding places. Here are some more examples of the traces left by animals.

These are droppings of a buck. The balls are drawn out at one end, pushed in on the other. These are droppings of a doe smaller and drawn out at both ends. Everywhere in the fields and woods, in stone piles, near holes in the ground, and around buildings there are tracks of the predatory weasel. The southern American weasel remains brown all year round, but there are other species whose fur in summer is reddish-brown on top, yellowish-white underneath and changes in the winter to completely white except for the end of the tail, which remains jet-black. The body of this animal is about 16 inches long, the tail about 4 inches. You can easily recognize the paw print of the otter by the webbed toes. Otters, found throughout the United States and Canada, live in burrows that have underwater entrances. Their droppings are full of fish scales.

Birdwatching
Birdwatching is a hobby that many people find absorbing. You too can spend fascinating hours tiptoeing through the woods hoping to glimpse the flash of a wing, or observing quietly from a window as birds cluster round a feeding station. You can probably recognize a few of the many different types of birds. There are many more you can look for and learn about. Do you know the difference between swifts and swallows? Swifts are frequently confused with swallows, because the way of life hunting from the air and the appearance of the two species are similar, but swifts are more closely related to hummingbirds and goatsuckers. Swifts are good flyers but their feet are weak and serve only for clinging to walls. Swifts cannot take off from the ground, so if you find an uninjured swift that has been 'grounded,' simply throw it into the air.

Here are a few types of swifts:
The chimney swift nests in walls, unused chimneys, around towns. Has a shrill cry, "Sril-Sril." Smokey black, light throat, tail feathers ending in bare spines, larger than any swallow. The white-bellied swift larger than the chimney swift, nests in cliffs and caves. Cries a piercing 'Skree-Skree' or a trilling 'Gree-Gree-Gree'. Brown on top, white underside with a brown band across the breast. The goatsucker (whippoorwill, chuck-will's-widow, or nighthawk) this is also not a swallow soft, mottled plumage. About as big as a thrush. Nests hidden on the ground, stays on the ground or on a branch during the day. Lives on bugs and night moths. Cries 'Dag' when flying, "Errrr-Oerrr" when resting.

And now a few swallows:
The bank or sand swallows nests in holes along steep river banks and in sandpits. Is gregarious (birds of a feather flock together) and generally lives in flocks near water. The cliff swallow nests in sunny spots on stony places or cliffs.

Many people have a hobby of Birdwatching. They love to listen bird's chirping, watching them while making a nest or anything related to birds. For them camping is the best way to fulfill their desire.