Learning the wildlife signs...

There are many things to consider when trying to either identify an animal or in trying to follow an animal. You will need to use a combination of different clues and not presume to know the animal by one clue alone.

You need to be safe, it is easy to get lost when engrossed in following tracks, but do you know your own shoe tracks? Never go alone and take a map and make temporary markers to show you how to return back. Also take water with you and wear a hat.

Photographed in the Serpentine area

Bones

In Western Australia we are very lucky to have the dry climate without snow, which helps in preserving bones. Fossils can be found on the ground without even being buried, although most are, and many bones will remain in good condition for many years. But this can also be a bit of a trap as you may think the animal has just died when in actual fact it died 30 years ago when that particular species was in that area, maybe now it doesn't live there anymore and you haven't considered it for identification.

The opposite is true for tracks in Western Australia as a lot of this state is sandy and rocky. There is also limestone, mud, clay and forest material. Tracks do not last long in the sand, all it takes is rain or wind to destroy them. It wont take you long to see the difference between fresh tracks or diggings and ones that have nearly blown away. This will help in giving you a time frame as to when the animal was here. After it has rained is a great time to see tracks in muddy puddles or sand as they hold their shape clearer and longer.

In Forested or wooded places go to where you see power-line towers, it will be a cleared making it easier to see tracks.

Photographed at Rowles Lagoon

Scats

No one enjoys looking at an animals waste product i.e. scats or poo but if you do you may have an endangered animal right under your nose and you wouldn't have even known if you hadn't stopped to look and read the scats.

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum

Scats are a trademark of that animal although some are similar the animal will consistently produce the same scat. Drawing a quick pic' or taking a photograph will help you when you get back home in identifying the animal.

These are the scats of the Numbat. If they were fresh you could safely say that there was one living in the area and it would be a good idea to sit quietly somewhere as it could be hiding in a nearby log.

Burrows

Burrows in the ground or in banks, logs and some nests make it very confusing in identifying animals, partly because many reptiles and mammals and some birds will use other animals burrows, logs or nests. Even if you are to find the animal in the burrow or log there is no guarantee that that animal lives there or that animal even made that burrow or nest, it could have dived down the burrow or in the log as it heard you coming along the track. You will need other clues such as scats and tracks but even then it is not proof that that animal made that burrow. The best way to determine who makes which nest, burrow etc is to study the animals on your property or a reserve that you can visit often and observe for long periods of time.

Then you will catch the animal either going into many different burrows and nests or making their own.

Photographed at Cardup Nature Reserve

Photographed at Julimar Nature Reserve

Tracks

When taking photographs of tracks, scats or bones use a ruler in the photograph for measurements, this will help you a lot when you have left the area and you are searching the web or books to identify your species. Photographing tracks in the morning and late afternoon will show shadow and depth in the track. In the photograph on the left I didn't have a ruler so I used my thumb as a scale for the track.

When animals are walking casually they usually leave the whole footprint (maybe both front and rear footprints and tail) if they were running/hopping or bounding then most animals run/hop on their toes which makes the tracks look a lot smaller or incomplete for the same animal.

Young animals tracks and scats can be mistaken for a smaller species for example; a young Western Grey kangaroo joey could be mistaken for a Bettong or Woylie track or scat. So if there are small tracks or scats look for larger tracks or scats of the same animal nearby and it may show you that a mother and joey were together and so the animal was not a woylie. Macropod tracks all vary from species to species but once again there are a lot of tracks to try and remember.

Insects such as beetles, spiders and centipedes can leave tracks too and don't forget some birds also feed on the ground.

Larger animals such as the larger wallaby's and kangaroos and introduced animals such as pigs, goats sheep etc may leave a trail of broken branches or snapped twigs on the ground along the path as the macropods often panic and bound in any direction when frightened crashing through plants. (Be careful at night when walking through the bush when any kangaroo bolts in panic as you could be knocked down if you are in their path, make sure they know where you are by making a lot of noise. Your torch can confuse them as the light appears to be in so many places at once. Shine the torch on you so they can see you). Macropods also leave a well worn out path that may lead down to where they drink or rest during the day. We call these highways, they can lead the unwary bush walker on a wild roo chase ending no where in particular, so be careful you don't follow a roo trail instead of a walking trail.

Photographed at Neerabup Nature Reserve north of Perth

Don't forget to listen to the wildlife

When I am in the bush I am totally focused with both sight and sound. If I hear a group of birds squawking angrily I will creep up to see who is annoying them, sometimes a bird of prey or hawk flies out as it was robbing the nest or maybe it could be a goanna, snake, other birds or fox.

In the Western Australian Marri and Jarrah forest you get the plonking sounds of the gum nuts falling but this sound you learn to ignore. A little skink will rustle in the leaves in a short burst and stop this is when you may be able to spot it before it darts off again.

The sound of sticks cracking suggests a large animal is nearby, sometimes I have been only metres from a kangaroo or emu and the only clue was the cracking of a stick.

Insects like cicada's, crickets and grasshopper calls can fill the air on a warm summers evening, or during the day. This is a sign that the area is healthy and many animals such as reptiles, bats and small marsupials could also be living there.

Click on these sounds and see if you can guess what they are.

Which one is now extinct?

Macropods communicate with coughs and barks, they all sound different between the species and the age of the animal. You may also hear the thumping of males kick boxing each other just after sunset or in the early morning.

Of course birds including, owls, nightjars, emu's etc all make their own unique calls. To learn these I carry a small tape recorder and record any bird I come across then at home I try and match up the sounds from a CD called "Birds of Australia". This gets quicker the more you do it although you can't always find the bird you heard.

Snakes and Bobtail lizards will give a loud hiss if you are about to stand on them. And a few geckos can emit sounds when they feel threatened.

Frogs too make their own species calls although they can vary in pitch. Make a tape recording and start a collection as many frogs in Western Australia are burrowing frogs. They live underground calling and waiting for a mate to visit so you wont get to see them. I don't think you should dig them up.

How about learning to call a fox or dingo. If you have heard their calls why not try and copy the sounds, you have nothing to loose. Once again record the calls and practice getting the calls right pitch and length. Children can practice the yelps of dingo pups.

You can also buy bird whistles but to date I haven't used one.

Look for bits of fur caught on plants. Once again it wont tell you straight away what the animal is unless you are very familiar with the different animal furs but it may tell you that the animal was here recently, you may be able to smell the animal in the fur, or it may have been wool or horse hair.

In trying to identify your animal or animal signs don't forget to include all the introduced species in your search.

Birds feathers are a great sign as to the bird that lives in that area. I am surprised with the small amount of feathers that are found considering that birds moult. However when you find a good quality feather you can take it home and match it up to the bird in a book. Nests too are unique to the different bird species but they too are hard to find considering how many nests there must be. Not all nests are made in trees with sticks. After a storm you may find a nest on the ground, to find out who may own it you will need to spend some quite time where you found the nest just listening and looking. Record the sounds and use binoculars and you will have a few bird species to narrow down the owner of the nest although you may not be able to locate the exact owner.

Birds eggs are sometimes found too. These are also different according to the species take a photograph or draw a quick picture and try and find the egg in a reference book for that area.

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum. Is it a goose, turtle or mallee fowl egg?

Never take the egg home if it doesn't hatch in nature then its a great meal for a monitor, large skinks or a snake.

Maybe its not a birds egg, reptiles lay eggs too, they are usually more oblong in shape.

The egg above is a Mallee Fowl egg and you would see the mound even if the egg had been dug up.

Sometimes when out walking you may come across a baby animal, it may be hard to tell what species it is apart from being a bird or mammal. Usually our first reaction is to save it and take it home.

Photographed at Janes State Forest in the southwest of WA

But this is not always the best thing for the animal, young animals such as puggles (baby echidnas), young possums (not furless), young numbats etc are left in their home as they are too big for mum to carry around and she is just out collecting dinner. Other animals like baby turtles and most reptiles never see their mother and take care of themselves from birth and don't need rescuing. It is best to put the animal down inside a log or under a bush. Some baby birds are looked after by their parents on the ground like quails and sometimes cuckoo shrikes. Other baby birds may have fallen from their nest and need to be returned to it if its safe to reach. Its an old wife's tale that a mother bird will reject her chick if a human has touched it. Birds have a poor sense of smell, what will make her reject it is you hanging around to close.

You can sit in a tree an observe either in the day or night what comes along. Make sure you don't go to high as you wont be able to get a clear view of the animals below, choose a tree that is over a well worn animal track, and make sure it has wide strong branches so you can relax and your camera and gear is safe, don't fall asleep!

Pellets

All birds of prey produce pellets. They are the indigestible parts of the prey that cant break down in the bird of preys gut. The pellets give seeds a second chance at germinating as they are expelled whole in the pellet that falls to the ground and in the right conditions may grow.
Finding a pellet can help you locate the owner. Its likely that the previous owner of the pellet lives in the nearest tree. Also from the pellet (if you're game) you can break it apart and see what the bird of prey ate, there may be different bones and claws of different meals in the one pellet.
Go here to dissect a pellet on your computer, a lot of fun!

Smell

Sometimes you come across a strong smell. It could be a dead animal or you may have stepped in some poop. But it could also mean that bats are living nearby, echidnas leave a strong odour, dingo's mark their territory with urine, a few fungi can smell quite strong, some bird poop has a strong odour and stepping on some insects will emit a foul odour. Don't rush off, stop and have a good look around who knows what you might find.

Food Source

Initially when you start looking for animals you will look directly for the tracks, scats, nests or animal. Later as you develop more knowledge about the area, the animals and their habitats you will also learn more about what they eat. If you know what an animal eats and you have found the food then there is a chance that the animal lives nearby. Remember some animals will travel varying distances to where the food is. When plants flower and seed this attracts insects and that attracts the next species in the food chain that eats the insects and so on.

Don't over look the obvious places like carparks, school yards, suburbia or while you are on holiday. I have seen wildlife, even endangered wildlife in the most non wild places. Some animals learn to take advantage of handouts or rubbish left by us, and they don't know they are endangered.

The more you look the more you will find, the more you find the more you will ask questions, the more questions you ask the more you will look to find answers...

Learning to track animals is developed over time, the more time you spend outdoors the more you will learn so what are you waiting for-

Get out there!