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Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates

Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates

by David Moskowitz
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Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates

Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates

by David Moskowitz

Overview

Ideal for hikers, foragers, and animal lovers, the Timber Press Field Guides are the perfect tools for loving where you live.

It's possible to safely see fascinating wildlife—if you know what to look for and where and if you understand what you see. Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest makes it easier than ever with illustrated descriptions for more than 180 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. This book is a must-have for nature lovers of all ages and skill levels.
  • Covers Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, northern California, Idaho, and western Montana
  • More than 180 species described in detail
  • 460 color photographs shot in the wild, silhouettes and track keys for quick identification, and 92 range maps
  • Clear color-coded layout

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780881929492
Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated
Publication date: 05/19/2010
Series: A Timber Press Field Guide
Pages: 364
Sales rank: 485,582
Product dimensions: 6.48(w) x 8.62(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

David Moskowitz is a professional wildlife tracker, photographer, and outdoor educator. He has tracked, documented, and photographed wolves in the wild in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and southern Alberta, studying den and rendezvous sites. He helped establish and co-manages the Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project, teaches wildlife tracking programs internationally, and has led wolf-tracking expeditions in Washington, Idaho, and Wisconsin. As an evaluator for Cybertracker Conservation, he provides certification of wildlife tracking skills as part of efforts to increase observer reliability and the use of tracking in research and conservation initiatives across North America.

Read an Excerpt

Preface
It’s a sunny winter day in the Cascades. Since close to first light I have been following the fresh trail of a bobcat over a perfect blanket of gleaming white snow. As the day has begun to warm, the bobcat’s trail winds its way up through open timber toward a small cliff band and angles toward a narrow slot through the middle of the rock. I approach slowly to see if I, too, will be able to pass through the opening in the cliff where the trail is clearly leading. As I get closer, I realize that what at first appeared to be passageway is actually an overhanging recess, and I understand where these tracks have taken me. Cautiously, I take a few steps toward the base of the rock and peer into the fissure’s shadowed depths. I see nothing in the dark but two green eyes staring back at me.

Again and again while writing this book, I have been overwhelmed at the magnificent diversity of wildlife in the Pacific Northwest and the captivating signs animals leave across the landscape. For me, wild animal tracks and signs have a compelling, magical quality. This book is my attempt to inspire others to discover that magic and to deepen and enrich their personal relationship with the natural world.
    
Wild animals are a universally fascinating feature of the natural world, yet they are often difficult to observe directly. Many species of wildlife are shy, nocturnal, or occur in such low densities that they are rarely seen. An ability to interpret the tracks and signs animals leave behind is a vital part of studying wildlife, especially mammals, in the field. Even when we do have the opportunity to observe wildlife directly, we need a foundational understanding of wildlife behavior and ecology to grasp the depth of what we are seeing and to understand why we saw that particular animal, in that particular place, do that particular thing.
    
This guide is designed to do more than help you attach names to things. My hope is that it will help you discover and understand the fascinating stories of wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. Based on my years of field work and teaching, I have tailored the content and layout of this guide for ease of use in the field and to increase the depth and richness of your understanding of wildlife in our region. Photographs, descriptions, and measurements of tracks and signs are representative of what you will typically encounter when you venture out into the forests, mountains, shores, and deserts of the Pacific Northwest.
    
Introductory material provides context for species accounts that follow, illuminating how topography, climate, and other ecological factors shape the distribution of wildlife in our region and introducing basic wildlife biology concepts. “Wildlife Tracking Basics” and “Finding Tracks, Signs, and Wildlife” cover terminology used to describe tracks, track patterns, and field techniques and tracking concepts that will help you develop your observational skills related to wildlife field studies.
    
Visual keys provide a starting point for identifying wildlife, tracks, and signs. Tracks and signs of mammals can at times be confused with those left by birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. Short sections on each of these other groups of wildlife help you distinguish other animal signs from those of mammals and provide a window into their fascinating world.
    
We humans are not just passive observers of the world around us; we are active participants. Through our choices, we affect not only our own lives and those of other people, but also the existence of flora and fauna in wildlands that provide the services and natural resources on which we depend for our survival and quality of life. The forests on which endangered woodland caribou depend for shelter and food also protect watersheds and provide carbon sequestration that humans require for drinking water, electricity, and a stable climate.
    
Our culture’s interest in, and affinity with, wild animals is not new or unique (though our lack of awareness of our direct impacts may be). In any hunter-gatherer culture, a detailed understanding, respect, and appreciation for wild creatures is integral to the material survival and safety of its people. Though we may think that we in this modern world have moved far from our roots in subsistence cultures, in actuality our survival and safety still depend on understanding, respect, and appreciation for our natural environment. It is my sincere hope that reading and using this book furthers your understanding, deepens your respect, and awakens your appreciation of animals, their signs, and the natural world upon which we all depend.
 
 

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Acknowledgments 11

How to Use this Book 13

The Pacific Northwest and Its Wildlife 17

Part 1 Wildlife Tracking Basics 27

Individual Track Identification 31

Animal Locomotion and Track Patterns 35

Sign Tracking 43

Measuring Tracks, Track Patterns, and Signs 49

Finding Tracks, Signs, and Wildlife 51

Key to Mammal Tracks 59

Key to Scats 77

Key to Feeding Signs on Animal Remains 80

Key to Feeding Signs on Plants 81

Key to Signs on Trees and Tree Bark 82

Key to Burrows, Holes, Digs, and Mounds 84

Part 2 Mammals 87

Pouched Mammals Order Didelphimorphia 94

Shrews and Moles Order Soricimorpha 96

Bats Order Chiroptera 105

Hares, Rabbits, and Pikas Order Lagomorpha 107

Rodents Order Rodentia 121

Carnivores Order Carnivora 200

Hoofed Mammals Order Artiodactyla 274

Part 3 Other Wildlife 299

Birds 300

Key to Bird Tracks 304

Reptiles and Amphibians 334

Insects and Other Invertebrates 341

Track Measurement Graphs 349

Glossary 352

Selected Bibliography 354

Index 357

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