This will be the first installment of “Reading Land” on this blog. More will come in the future. The art and science of reading a landscape and its life is at the very heart of what a naturalist does. Learning to read the tracks and other signs that creatures inscribe into the places they inhabit can reveal a great deal of information that may not be gleaned in any other way. “Reading sign” is instinctive with me after a lifetime of study in the outdoors. Read on to discover how animal signs can instill a sense of fascination and wonder in those who learn to notice – and interpret – them.
On a hot, midsummer day not long ago, I walked over to our shed; a simple, no-frills, three-sided building with a dirt floor that all manner of wildlife love to visit. The fine-grained, dry soil renders tracks with plenty of detail. As I walked in, a new set of tracks presented themselves, tracks made by a creature unique to this part of the world, a creature that is very rarely seen in the wild. A Gila monster had investigated the shed, leaving some fascinating tracks. Unlike other lizards in southeastern Arizona, this one has dimpled feet, so identifying its tracks is straightforward as long as the substrate will reveal fine detail. The lizard’s tracks reminded me immediately of porcupines, for they are among the few mammals that also have golf-ball-like dimples on the soles of their feet. I believe the porcupine’s dimples are an adaptation for climbing, and could serve Gila monsters in a similar way. I once thought that these big, bulky lizards were 100% terrestrial, but after living with them for many years, I have learned that it is not uncommon for them to climb up into trees. Bird eggs are highly sought after by Gila monsters; herpetologists state that they have a close association with quail…ground-nesting birds that provide roaming Gila monsters with a rich source of food via their eggs. Why not search the trees for the eggs of other birds?
Finding tracks of a rarely seen animal is exciting! I would have had no idea the lizard was around were it nor for those distinctive tracks. With respect to certain animals, reading their sign has taught me more about them than anything else. Wolverines, for example, roamed the Montana Rockies where I grew up. I have hiked more than 17,000 miles in occupied wolverine habitat in the wildest parts of Montana, but I have only seen a wild wolverine once. They are rare. I learned a lot about them, however, by following their trackways for long distances, particularly during the winter, when snow transformed the landscape into an open newspaper.
Here along the San Pedro River, interesting animal signs are often written into the face of the land. One of this region’s other unique animals is the coati. These social omnivores wander the river bottoms in groups of up to thirty or more individuals, foraging for food.
Along a dry reach of the river, I discovered some long claw marks etched into the sand banks, along with some holes that furred paws had been digging into. The width of the claw marks, coupled with the place where I found them, and the animal’s investigation of many of the adjacent holes pointed strongly to the work of a coati. These raccoon relatives dig for a living, using a highly developed sense of smell to locate grubs, insect pupae, and other foods hidden underground. I find their tracks and their signs far more often than I see them.
