Tracking Urban Wildlife

Unlike some winters, the snow cover in my yard has been intact for weeks - but not untouched. In fact, my backyard appears to be a veritable crossroads - a busy intersection - for local animals.

Well I'm betting that the tracks come from my neighbors' cats and from my squirrel neighbors, it's not completely unlikely that other sorts of beasts have crossed that snowy expanse.

There have been coyote sightings in Medford and back on Labor Day weekend I came across a deer on Orchard Street in Cambridge, near Porter Square and just one block from Mass Ave., a busy city street. Wild turkeys are familiar sights in South Boston, near Harvard Business School, in Jamaica Plain and elsewhere in the city.

Winter snow creates a great opportunity for studying evidence of the local fauna. And if you venture out of your yard into local parks or conservation land there's lots to see if you know how to find the clues.

There are excellent sites online with loads of info an tracking including Beartracker's site and a comprehensive guide from Princeton's Outdoor Program.

If you prefer hands on instruction, two upcoming Massachusetts workshops, one in Concord at Walden Pond and another at Maudslay State Park in Newburyport offer the opportunity to educate your eye and introduce the kids to the great outdoors.