Identifier Profile: @beartracker

This is the sixth in an ongoing monthly series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist! 

Oftentimes the only way most of us can regularly observe elusive wildlife like mammals is by finding traces of their passage: tracks, scat, rubs, and the like. Thankfully there are identifiers on iNat like @beartracker who can help with identification of those signs!

“I got my start in tracking when I was about 13 or 14,” says Kim Cabrera, who grew up in southern California. “My dad was the first one to point out tracks to me, when I was just a youngster. For some reason, those little imprints in the dirt just fascinate me. I imagine the animals making them and am curious about how those animals survive. As a teen, I started to teach myself the various tracks by drawing the ones in the field guide over and over.”

She continued to learn more about tracking and even learned to track humans for search-and-rescue purposes “[but] tracking animals is my first love.” After moving to the northern reaches of California over thirty years ago, she now tracks the bears and mountain lions in the area (among other animals), trying to determine their dietary and behavior habits from their tracks, signs, scrapes, and such. 

A CyberTracker-certified Track and Sign Specialist in both the forest and desert biomes, Kim also spends a good amount of time identifying track and scat observations on iNaturalist, which she discovered through a friend. 

I find it a great learning tool since you get to see tracks and sign in various environments and from all over the world. There is a very helpful community of trackers on iNaturalist who get into detailed discussions on identifications. We tag each other and discuss various tracks amongst ourselves and help each other learn. 

When adding IDs on iNat, Kim searches for observations of tracks and other sign and in addition to the identification she tells me

I try to remember to give reasons why I think a track is this not that so that it’s a learning experience for all. For the tracker, being able to articulate the reasons why you identified a track as you did helps you to clarify the details and solidifies it in your mind. So, the learning goes both ways. Hopefully, my track identifications are helpful to the folks who posted the images. Sometimes, it leads [to] a long discussion between folks, which can be helpful. 

For me, the thing about identifying things on iNaturalist is that it increases my knowledge. Tracks can appear in many different ways. For example, raccoon tracks have a reputation among trackers since they can mimic the appearance of those of other species. I have seen raccoon tracks that look just like those of bobcats or dogs!...

I think this has real-world applications. It’s not uncommon for mountain lions to be suspected of depredations on domestic animals. However, often the tracks found turn out to belong to dogs. Sadly, this can have really bad consequences for the mountain lions if the tracks are misidentified. So, the real-world application of tracking is my main motivation to help make correct track identifications, both on iNaturalist and other places. 

In addition to identifying, Kim also uses iNat as a place to post her observations of other organisms - she’s particularly interested in galls and leafminers at the moment and, after reading about them, she’ll comb through existing observations on iNat as well as post her own observations of them for ID help. “There are experts on feathers, bones, skulls, galls, and more, all on iNaturalist,” she says. “I have learned so much from them over the years and am grateful to them.”

I think learning is the most important thing we can do each day. Try to learn something new each day and you will never be bored. Learning about nature is my passion. I’ve discovered fascinating things with amazing life histories, like galls! And seeing these and identifying them on iNaturalist has helped open up a whole new world of knowledge to me. I am no expert in galls, but I do love learning about them. It’s the helpful identifications of those who ARE the experts that are helping me along that learning journey. As a specialist in track and sign, I hope that my knowledge of my particular subject area can prove useful to someone else who is as eager to learn as I am. This is why I love iNaturalist and its wonderful community. 

- Check out Kim’s website, as well as her YouTube channel!

- Kim also created the Animal Tracks and Signs by Beartracker Wildlife Tracking and Bird Tracks and Signs projects on iNat.

- References Kim recommends include books by Mark Elbroch as well as those by Moskowitz, Tkacyzk, Eiseman, Resendez, Poppele, McFarland, Lowery, and Halfpenny.

- Take a look at the printable comparision sheet Kim made for differentiating feline and canine tracks.

- if you have suggestions for identifiers to profile, please message @tiwane (don't write in the comments). I'm particularly interested in people who specialize in underrepresented taxa, regions, or types of observations.

Posted on November 18, 2021 10:22 PM by tiwane