THE foundation of Tracking – Aging Tracks & Signs
When it comes to tracking, the most important thing to learn well, and the largest field to study (it’s endless, really) is track and sign aging. If you can tell that a trail is fresh, you’ll have more success following it and finding the animal. As a general rule, fresher tracks stand out more than […]
The “Secrets of Success” for Tracking – The Lost Trail Drill
When it comes to the trailing aspects of tracking, predominantly following and finding animals, even Master Trackers lose the trail. To me, that’s a refreshing idea. It makes me feel better about things when I lose the trail as a Senior Tracker, and it makes my students feel better when they hear this and when […]
What is Tracking?
If you are already a subscriber to the Original Wisdom mailing list you probably already understand the classic definition of tracking as being basically something about tracks, pugmarks, spoor, or footprints of animals or people. So, I’ll skip ahead for now and dive into a definition that’s more nuanced and accurate. I often see folks […]
Tracker Tuesdays #13, OriginalWisdom.com “News for Trackers”
October Answers to our #WeeklyTrackingChallenge Interested in online and correspondence tracking courses? Visit us at TrackerMentoring.com! Answer list: An African wildcat track from South Africa, Crested francolin feathers from South Africa, and Mud-dauber wasp sign collecting mud in Connecticut in the USA. (Sorry for the delay on these answers for October while I was defending […]
Tracker Tuesdays #12
September Answers to our Weekly Tracking Challenge Answer list: a female solifuge burrow in South Africa, Cape buffalo dung in South Africa, a fallen wren nest in Poland, and European badger tracks in England. The art and science of tracking develops creative and critical thinking skills, and curiosity and empathy, which also help us to […]
Tracker Tuesdays #11
Whoops, we slipped a bit! This newsletter covers questions posed in both July and Aug, 2020. We’ve moved to a monthly newsletter format for #TrackerTuesdays, so a new question SHOULD be posed every Tuesday, and answers SHOULD be published on the first Tuesday of every month. We apologize for the delay in publishing this one, […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Answers for June 2020
We’ve moved to a monthly newsletter format for #TrackerTuesdays, so a new question will be posed every Tuesday, and answers will be published on the first Tuesday of every month. Answer list: Spotted towhee from the Channel Islands in California; Namaqua rock mouse nest from the Republic of South Africa; zebra tracks from the Republic […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 9
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 9 Answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. HEADS UP, TRACKERS! Even though we aren’t out of the proverbial “woods” yet with this coronavirus pandemic, I need to start transitioning away from a #DAILYTRACKINGCHALLENGE. While […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 8!
Here’s a link to our newsletter at Original Wisdom, with detailed answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge. Answers for 20 – 25 May 2020 This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. We post a question a day, except for Tuesdays because that’s Answer Day! Answer […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 7
Answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. We post a question a day, except for Tuesdays because that’s Answer Day! Answer list: Bennett’s wallaby tracks from Tasmania; grey squirrel tracks in snow from Connecticut in the USA; lilac-breasted roller […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 6
Answer Day for 13 – 18 May 2020 Answer list: puff adder (snake) trail from the Republic of South Africa; emerald-spotted wood dove tracks from the Republic of South Africa; pheasant cecal scat from southern England; mourning dove tracks from New England in the USA; white rhinoceros tracks from the Republic of South Africa; a Charops […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 5
Answer Day for 6 – 11 May 2020 Answer list: African tree squirrel tracks from the Republic of South Africa, two different sizes of caterpillar frass from the Republic of South Africa, European mole mounds from southern England, regurgitated pellets of an Abyssinian long-eared owl from Ethiopia, sapsucker feeding wells from New England in the […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 4
Q and A for 29 Apr – 4 May 2020 Answer list: scrub hare skull from South Africa; rainbow-koppie skink scat from South Africa; black bear tracks from the USA; leopard tracks from South Africa; fallow deer bed and tracks from England; Geoffrey’s cat scat up in a tree from Chile Amongst our global efforts […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 3
Q and A for 14 – 20 April 2020 Answers at a glance: tortoise tracks from South Africa; African lion and spotted hyena tracks from South Africa; dove nest with scats from Chile, South America; grey fox double register and in a straddle trot from Massachusetts, USA; secretarybird track from South Africa; Patriziana brunneus nymphal […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 2
Q and A for 14 – 20 April 2020 Questions: White-tailed mongoose tracks, acorn weevil sign, pip gall wasp sign, female zebra’s skull, black-backed jackal scat, Stark’s hare scat, European forest bison incisor marks, beetle trail, centipede trail Amongst our global efforts to #flattenthecurve, we shared a few tracking photos on our Original Wisdom Facebook […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 1
Week 1, 7-14 April 2020 Download our recommended reading list for trackers by signing up for our “News for Trackers” newsletter! Our goal is NOT to be spammy with our newsletter. We’d just like to send occasional updates on upcoming programs and maybe some cool info on wildlife, people, and tracking! Once the sign-up form […]
2020 Calendar of Programs
African and North American programs listed – we have some exciting stuff, from tracking with the Bushmen in the Kalahari, to Tracking and Bushcraft Intensives, Invertebrate Tracks and Signs, CyberTracker evaluations, and more! Please go to this page to view our calendar for 2020, many programs listed are hyperlinked to the complete details. Bookmark this […]
It takes a village to medicate an elephant
To watch the 3 minute YouTube video that accompanies this story, scroll down to the link at the bottom. We pulled in to Dundee Dam with our students, FGASA Level 1 guide trainees from all over the world, to view a hippo cow and calf that were in thewater. Across the dam wall, we saw […]
Ghosts in the darkness
I awoke the other night in the wee hours before dawn. It was extremely bright due to our moon waxing towards full. My bare feet padded silently to the window on the cool cement floor. I looked out upon a large grey body. I had to soften my vision to see her clearly, so closely […]
Eastern rock elephant shrews in the sunset
One of my favorite moments this winter here in South Africa was with a group of trackers from White Pine Programs from Maine in the USA. We did a sunset “sit spot” one evening in the Waterberg Mountains. Sit spots are just a time where you sit by yourself, in silence, and push your awareness […]
“Ledyard native a top international wildlife tracker” – The Day Newspaper
While in the USA recently, I was interviewed by a reporter, Amanda Hutchinson, from The Day newspaper in Connecticut. Here is a link to the article that just came out today: Ledyard native a top international wildlife tracker