The Backyard Naturalist

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Homepage

• Introduction
• Exercise 1 Who Walked Here?
• Exercise 2. The Scoop on Poop
• Exercise 3. Bird Songs and Things that go Bump in
  the Night.
• Suggested Reading Links

Back to Homepage
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Introduction

• We who live in east Tennessee share the land with
  a wide variety of different plants and animals.
• Trees and some animals are easy to find because
  they live out in the open where we can see them.
  
• Many of the animals that live around us, however,
  are secretive or only come out at night.
• We can use
• animal tracks,
• their poop (scat)
• sounds they make
• to identify their presence and learn about where
  they live.

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The student will

• Learn about the tracks animals common to this
  area make, the poop they leave behind, and the
  calls they make.

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Materials List Backyard Naturalist Unit 7

• Footprints
• American Crow (J)
• Bull Frog (E)
• Cougar (G)
• Eastern Chipmunk (O)
• Eastern Cottontail (I)
• Great Blue Heron (H)
• Grey Squirrel (M)
• Mallard duck (C)
• Mink (R)
• Muskrat (P)
• Opossum (L)
• Red fox (B)
• River Otter (F)
• Snapping turtle (D)
• Striped skunk (Q)
• White-tailed deer (A)

• Poop
• Canada Goose (E)
• Cottontail Rabbit (H)
• Coyote (F)
• Elk (B)
• Little Brown Bat (D)
• Striped Skunk (G)
• Turkey (C)
• White-tailed Deer (A)
• Bird night animal song CD
• Set of game cards
• Cloth sack

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Exercise 1. Who Walked Here?

• One of the best ways to tell what animals are in
  your backyard is by the tracks they leave behind.
  
• Every animal has a unique footprint and when it
  travels over soft ground, it leaves an impression
  of this footprint for us to identify it by.
• In this exercise, you will be detectives, making
  decisions about animal identities on the basis of
  the tracks they produce.

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Objective

• Exercise 1
• gives students a chance to identify an animal by
  observing its tracks and/or using a key.
• teaches students different facts that are
  associated with the animals.

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Super Solver Question

• Question What additional information can we
  learn about an animal by examining the tracks it
  has made?
• Think about this super solver question while
  examining the tracks.

For 1a K-1 Match Game
For 1b Key that Animal
For 1cGetting to Know the Animals
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1a Matching Animal Tracks

• K-1 Level Students
• Match an animal track with a picture of a track
  linked to a picture of the animal that made the
  track.

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Materials

• Set of animal tracks cast in resin
• Set of sheets, each with pictures of the tracks
  and animals that made them along with the name of
  the animals.

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Directions

• The teacher will spread the tracks out on a
  table in front of the class
• Each one of the next series of slides will
  display, 1st the name of an animal, then its
  picture and the track it makes.
• First see, if anyone recognizes the name.
• The picture of the animal can then be brought up
  along with a picture of the track it makes.
• The first student to identify the animal can have
  the 1st try at finding the track on the table
  that matches the one displayed with the animal.
• Click on the picture of the animal if you would
  like to learn more about the animal.
• Repeat for as many animals as you care to try.
  There are 16 in all.

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Bull Frog
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Cottontail Rabbit
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Mountain Lion/Cougar
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Stripped Skunk
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Mink
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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River Otter
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Muskrat
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Great Blue Heron
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Eastern Chipmunk
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Oppossum
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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American Crow
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Snapping Turtle
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Mallard Duck
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Red Fox
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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White-Tailed Deer
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Grey Squirrel
Click on foot print for information about this
animal Click elsewhere to move on to next slide
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Exercise 1b. Key That AnimalHigher Grade Levels

• The process of identifying an organism as to type
  is related to 'classification', the placement of
  organisms in a hierarchical scheme (Kingdom,
  Phylum or Division, Class, Order, Family Genus
  and species), reflecting their histories and the
  characteristics they exhibit.
• Biologists identify organisms by using a
  guidebook called a 'key'.
• We introduce here the concept of an
  identification key.
• A key asks a series of questions that allows us
  to narrow down what we are looking at and
  ultimately permits us to arrive at a decision as
  to what the animal is.

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• Using a Key
• A key is a guide that helps you identify what
  something is.
• It is organized as a series of descriptions,
  grouped in pairs (couplets), from which you
  choose the description which best fits the object
  you are trying to identify.
• Because you are always choosing the best option
  from a pair of descriptions, this type of key is
  called a dichotomous (two choice) key.
• When you select the description from a couplet
  that best fits your specimen, it will either tell
  you which descriptive couplet to go to next, or
  give you the name of the object you are
  attempting to identify.

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• Examine the example of a dichotomous key
  designed to distinguish among items A-D below.
• As a class pick one item at a time to identify.

• 1a. Object has a hole in the center...............
  ........................................go to
  couplet 3
• 1b. Object does not have a hole in the
  center.....................................go to
  couplet 2
• 2a. Object has a groove in the top
  ..................................................
  ....It is a Screw
• 2b. Object does not have a groove in the
  top......................................It is a
  Nail
• 3a. Object is hexagonal .........................
  ..............................................It
  is a Nut
• 3b Object is circular ............................
  ............................................It
  is a Washer

To key Tracks To Key Poop
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Directions

• Divide the class into groups of two - four
  students
• Each group should make a list of letters from A
  to R on a sheet of paper.
• Set up stations. Each station should have
• A copy of the key 'The Backyard Naturalist' Key
  To Animal Tracks available on next slide
• An animal track cast in resin
• On arriving at a station, the group should follow
  the key until the name for the animal that made
  the track at the station is determined.
• Record the animal type next to the letter
  identifying the track
• Rotate on to the next station and repeat this
  process until all stations have been visited

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'The Backyard Naturalist' Key To Animal
Tracks   Directions Begin at the first couplet
of descriptions, read them both and select the
option which best describes the track you are
looking at. Follow the directions given by that
option. Continue until the option you have
chosen identifies the animal track. Below are
some features of tracks you should be familiar
with.
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1a. Track appears scaly ..Snapping
Turtle 1b. Track not scaly..Go to
Couplet 2 2a.Track has one footprint
........................................Go to
Couplet 3 2b.Track has two footprints
......................................Go to
Couplet 6   3a.Track is round.............
...........Cougar 3b.Track is roughly triangular
.................................Go to Couplet
4    4a.Track has webbing ........................
.......................Mallard 4b.Track has no
webbing ..........................................
Go to Couplet 5   5a. Track is less than 6 cm
long ...............................,.American
Crow 5b. Track is greater than 6 cm long
.........................Great Blue Heron
continued
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6a. Track has hooves .............................
....................White-tailed Deer 6b. Track
has no hooves ....................................
.........Go to Couplet 7   7a. Front hind
prints roughly equal size .............Go to
Couplet 8 7b. Hind print twice as long as front
or more .........Go to Couplet 12   8a. Both
tracks have four toes ............................
.......Red Fox 8b. Both tracks have five toes
....................................Go to Couplet
9   9a. Hind track has a thumb, neither with
claws ......Opossum 9b. Claws on at least one
track, no thumb ...............Go to Couplet 10
10a.Hind track wider than front and webbed
..........River Otter 10b.Tracks equal widths
with no webbing ................Go to Couplet 11
11a. Front longer than hind with longer claws
.........Striped Skunk 11b. Front shorter than
hind without long claws .....Mink
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continued
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12a. Hind track webbed ...........................
....................Bullfrog 12b. Hind track not
webbed ........................................Go
to couplet 13 13a. Pads and toes hidden by fur
................................Eastern
Cottontail 13b.Pads and toes clearly defined
..............................Go to Couplet
14 14a. Hind track lt 3 cm .......................
.........................Eastern Chipmunk 14b.
Hind track gt 3 cm ................................
................Go to Couplet 15 15a. Front
track gt 3 cm, hind toes spread out .........Grey
Squirrel 15b. Front track lt 3 cm, hind toes
close together ...Muskrat
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Time to Check your Answers
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• Exercise 1b. Answer Key
• For more information about particular animals
  click on i then on picture of animal
• Track ID Animal
• A ................ White-Tailed Deer
• B ................ Red Fox
• C ................ Mallard Duck
• D ................ Snapping Turtle
• E ................. Bullfrog
• F ................. River Otter
• G ................ Cougar
• H ................ Great Blue Heron
• I................... Eastern Cottontail
• J ................. American Crow
• L ................. Opossum
• M ............... Grey Squirrel
• O ................ Eastern Chipmunk
• P ................. Muskrat
• Q ................ Striped Skunk

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Time to Check your Answers Super Solver Question
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Super solver

• What besides the type of animal that made the
  track can we learn from examining tracks
• Stop! Answers are Next
• Approximately how long ago the animal made the
  track. As a track ages, its edges become less
  sharp. This, of course, is affected by weather.
• One can tell how big an animal is as a heavier
  animal will have a deeper print and a larger
  animal a larger print. Depth, of course, will be
  affected by how soft the ground is at the time
  the animal traveled across it.
• We can get some information about how fast the
  animal was traveling by the spacing and pattern
  of the footprints.
• By following a track one can get some idea of the
  home range of the animal.

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Bonus Game Once can recognize the tracks
visually, try this

• Imagine you were camping at night and something
  walked by your tent, but your fire burned out,
  and your flashlight batteries died. Do you think
  you could identify the animal by the way its
  tracks feel?
• The teacher will put a track in the drawstring
  bag that is associated with this unit while the
  class is turned towards the back of the room.
• The teacher will identify a volunteer(s) who will
  reach into the bag and attempt to identify the
  animal that made the track simply by its feel.
• The students might wish to practice this skill
  (using the tactile sense versus vision, by
  holding tracks behind their backs.
• With practice, do you do better at identifying a
  track by its feel?

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Exercise 1c. Getting to Know the Animals

• Now that you are familiar with the animal tracks,
  and have learned some things about the animals
  that made them, play this game.
• Spread the animal tracks out across a table at
  the front of the room.
• Find the set of game cards and shuffle them
• The teacher will take one from the pile and will
  read the information about the animal from the
  card.
• Select a student to choose a track belonging to
  the animal that matches the description of it.
• The student should tell the class what animal
  they chose.
• The class should vote Agree or Not Agree
• Go to the answer key to check that the track
  selected is the animal the student said it was
  and then check the information sheet on the
  animal to see if the description of this animal
  matches the information on the card.
• Repeat with additional draws from the deck and
  new volunteers.

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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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K-1 match
Track Key
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Exercise 2. The Scoop on Poop!

• One of the most common signs that can tell us
  what animals are in an area is the tracks they
  leave behind.
• But sometimes they leave other signs like feces,
  (droppings, poop or scat).
• Naturalists and animal trackers call animal feces
  'scat', and scientists who study animal feces are
  called 'scatologists'.
• Now it may seem strange to study animal poop, but
  there is an amazing amount of information that
  can be learned from it.

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• From a pile of droppings we can learn
• 1) What kind of animal left the poop?
• 2) How big an area the animal is using?
• 3) What the animal is eating?
• 4) How healthy the animal is.
• 5) We can even get DNA from poop and identify
  how many families are in an area and how spread
  out (dispersed) family members are!

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Objective

• Exercise 2 gives students a chance to investigate
  characteristics that differ among animal species
  in the feces (poop) they produce.

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• Identifying scat is not as easy as identifying
  animal tracks because it is more variable. No two
  scat are exactly alike, and an individual's scat
  can change based on what or how much it is
  eating. There are, however, some key
  characteristics of different types of animal
  poop.
• Herbivores (animals which eat grass and other
  plant material) generally leave very smooth and
  rounded pellet-like scat.
• Carnivores (animals that eat other animals) often
  have hair or feathers in their scat because these
  are not digested.
• Birds have some amount of white material mixed
  with the poop (This is because their urine has
  less water than other animals and is excreted as
  uric acid).
• Omnivores (animals which eat a mixed diet) often
  have undigested seeds in their scat, which can
  even sprout and grow!
• Insectivores (animals which eat insects) usually
  have small, rough, and irregular-shaped pellets.
• Fish.OK fish poop usually just washes away.

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• Note In these exercises you will be
• looking at real animal scat,
• learning what animals made them,
• and what we can tell about the animals from it.
• But don't worry it is completely clean and safe.
  The poop is first dried, then coated in plastic
  and then sealed in a plastic container.
  Nevertheless, please do not try to open the boxes!

For younger students Poop Matching Game For
older students Keying Poop
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Exercise 2a Matching poop with the pooper

• Young Kids
• Materials
• All of the scat samples
• Two poop sheets on accompanying slides

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Directions

• The teacher will spread the scat sample out on a
  table in front of the class
• Display the next slide showing a series of
  animals.
• Have the students look at the first animal
  picture and raise their hands if they know what
  the animal is.
• Select one to name the animal and take a class
  vote on whether this is correct or not.
• If correct, invite the student to come to the
  front table to find the scat sample that matches
  the picture of the poop next to the animal that
  made it.
• If this student has chosen the correct scat,
  pass the sample around so that all students have
  a chance to look at it.

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Directions continued

• Discuss what type of diet this animal has based
  on the characteristics of its poop and animal
  type/mammal vs bird
• If the student has chosen an incorrect sample,
  invite another
• volunteer up to make a choice.
• Repeat these steps until all scat have been
  identified and removed from the table.

To 2 poop sheets
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Exercise 2b Using a Key to Identify Animal Scat

• Older students
• Materials
• All of the scat samples
• Scat identification key

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Directions

• Review use of a dichotomous key

• Divide the class into groups of three or four
  students
• Set up 8 stations. Each station should have
• A copy of the scat identification key
• A sample of scat
• Each group should make a list of station numbers
  from 1-8 on a piece of paper
• They should then visit each station as they
  become available
• Record the letter on the scat sample at that
  station
• Use the scat identification key to identify the
  name for the animal that made this scat
• Record the identify
• Identify the animals diet given the nature of
  the scat
• They will then move on to subsequent stations and
  repeat the actions taken until all stations have
  been visited and the information filled out on
  the groups answer sheet

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Time to Check your Answers Exercise 2b
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2. Scat IDs
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Exercise 3. Birdsongs and Things That Go Bump in
the Night

• We humans tend to be visually oriented. But good
  naturalists learn to use all their senses, and in
  particular, their ears.
• Hearing bird songs is often the best way to
  identify them because they are frequently hidden
  up in the trees.
• And at night, we can also use our ears to
  determine just what creatures are making those
  strange noises in the dark.
• It can be spooky outside at night because we
  can't see well. But if we learn to use the
  sounds animals make to identify them, it can be
  fun instead.
• In these exercises we will listen to recordings
  of different birds and night animals and learn to
  identify them

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Objectives

• Students will .
• learn to identify common species in east
  Tennessee by the sounds they make.
• Exercise 3a How many different birds do you hear?
  
• Exercise 3b Identifying individual birds.
• Exercise 3c Identifying birds in groups
• Exercise 3d Sounds of the night

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Exercise 3a How many different birds do you hear?
(K-2)

• Materials
• Bird Night Sounds CD (Tracks 1- )
• Fig. 1. Picture pages of the different birds
• CD Player
• Track list

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Directions

• Cue up track 1 on the CD and listen to the
  instructions.
• Pictures of the birds are on the next slide
• Go to track 27
• Listen to the recording of the first group of
  birds.
• How many different kinds of birds did you hear in
  the track?
• Find answer on the next track (28).
• Repeat for each of the 7 groups included on the
  CD (tracks 27- 40).

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Fig. 1 Picture page of different birds handout
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Exercise 3b Identifying individual birds (3-12)

• Materials
• Bird Night Sounds CD
• Fig. 1. Picture pages of the different birds
• CD Player
• Pencil and paper

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Directions

• Listen to track 1 and 2 on the CD with a handout
  of the picture key to the species in front of you
  or displayed on the screen.
• Skip to track 3 and commit to memory the songs
  you hear.
• It will help to note the sounds you hear in the
  order you hear them for each species on your
  sheet of paper
• Complete the practice quiz found on track 4,
  using your notes and bird picture page.
• Complete the quiz found on track 5, using your
  notes and bird picture page.
• You have now completed the first session.
• Repeat the above steps involving a learning
  session, a practice quiz and a quiz for sessions
  2 (tracks 6-8) and 3 (tracks 9-11).

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BIG CHALLENGE

• At the end (track 12), there is a review quiz
  (Super Solver Quiz) involving all of the bird
  songs you have learned on this CD.
• You may use your sheet of notes and the picture
  handout in completing any quiz you take.

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Time to Check your Answers Exercise 3b
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Group 1 Quiz 1 (practice) Quiz 2 1)
White-Breasted Nuthatch 1) Wood Thrush 2)
American Crow 2) Eastern Wood Pewee 3) Eastern
Wood Pewee 3) White-Breasted Nuthatch 4) Wood
Thrush 4) Carolina Chickadee 5) Carolina
Chickadee 5) American Crow
Group 2 Quiz 1 (practice) Quiz 2 1)
Red-Tailed Hawk 1) House Finch 2) American
Robin 2) Red-Winged Blackbird 3) House
Finch 3) Carolina Wren 4) Carolina Wren 4)
American Robin 5) Red-Winged Blackbird 5)
Red-Tailed Hawk
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Group 3 Quiz 1(practice) Quiz 2 1) Mourning
Dove 1) Northern Mockingbird 2) Downy
Woodpecker 2) Blue Jay 3) Northern Cardinal 3)
American Goldfinch 4) Northern Mockingbird 4)
Downy Woodpecker 5) American Goldfinch 5)
Northern Cardinal 6) Blue Jay 6) Mourning Dove
Type Quiz and Super Solver Quiz 1) Mourning
Dove 2) Northern Cardinal 3) Eastern Wood
Pewee 4) Blue Jay 5) Red-Tailed Hawk 6)
Carolina Chickadee 7) Red-Winged Blackbird 8)
American Goldfinch
9) Northern Mockingbird 10) House Finch 11)
White-Breasted Nuthatch 12) Carolina Wren 13)
American Robin 14) Downy Woodpecker 15)
Eastern Wood Pewee 16) Wood Thrush
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Exercise 3c Identifying birds in groups (3-12)

• Materials
• Bird Night Sounds CD
• Fig.1 Picture pages of different birds
• CD Player
• Pencil and Paper

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Directions

• When you feel confident in your identification
  of individual bird songs from completing Exercise
  3b, try this exercise that has a number of
  different bird species calling at the same time.
• For pictures of possible bird species
• Find Track 13 on the CD
• This is a recording of a mixed group of bird
  species
• On a sheet of paper, write down Session 1.
• Write down the names of all the different birds
  you hear in the session.
• Move to the next track to learn the correct
  answers
• Repeat these steps for a total of seven sessions
  (tracks 13-26).

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Exercise 3d Sounds of the night (K-12)

• Materials
• Bird Night Sounds CD (Tracks )
• Fig. 2. Picture pages of the Night Animals
• CD Player
• Pencil and Paper

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Directions

• Find track 41 on the CD and listen to the
  Introduction to Night Sounds
• Move on to track 42 that explains your goal of
  discriminating between within and among three
  groups of night calling animals, frogs, birds,
  and insects.
• The recordings on subsequent tracks will
  introduce the calls of the representatives of
  each of these three groups.
• Listen to the frog calls presented on track 43 as
  many times as is necessary to learn to
  discriminate among them
• Be sure to write down how each song or call
  sounds to you as you look at the picture of the
  animal making the call.
• Complete the two frog call quizzes on tracks 44
  45
• Figure 2 has the pictures of all night animals

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Fig. 2. Picture Page of Night Animals Handout
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• Repeat this process for night bird calls on
  tracks 46-48
• Listen to the calls of the two insects commonly
  heard calling at night on track 49
• Find track 51 and complete the quiz as to whether
  each call presented is a bird, frog or insect
• Find track 50 and complete the Super Solver Quiz
  in which you are asked to identify the animal
  making each call.

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Time to Check your Answers Exercise 3b
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Frog Calls Quiz 1 Quiz 2 1) Bullfrog 1)
Chorus Frog 2) Chorus Frog 2) American
Toad 3) American Toad 3) Spring Peeper 4)
Spring Peeper 4) Bullfrog Night Bird
Calls Quiz 1 Quiz 2 1) Screech Owl 1)
Barred Owl 2) Common Nighthawk 2)
Whip-Poor-Will 3) Barred Owl 3) Great-Horned
Owl 4) Great-Horned Owl 4) Common Nighthawk 5)
Whip-Poor-Will 5) Screech Owl
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Super-Solver Quiz (and young kids quiz) 1) Field
Cricket (Insect) 2) Bullfrog (Frog) 3)
Whip-Poor-Will (Bird) 4) Barred Owl (Bird) 5)
Spring Peeper (Frog) 6) Chorus Frog (Frog) 7)
Screech Owl (Bird) 8) Common Nighthawk
(Bird) 9) Katydid (Insect) 10) Great-Horned
Owl (bird)
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Suggested reading for Young kids

• Nature in the Neighborhood. Written and
  illustrated by Gordon Morrison.
• The Woods Scientist (Scientists in the Field).
  Stephen R. Swinburne

3. Poop Nicola Davies
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Links
Exercise 1 http//www.bear-tracker.com/ http//ca
he.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/circ561.html http//w
ww.geocities.com./Yosemite/9152/wildlife.html htt
p//www.nwf.org/kids/trackMatch.cfm http//www.fs
.fed.us/pnw/starkey/tracking.html http//www.park
here.org/kidstrk2.htm Exercise
2 http//www.biokids.umich.edu/guides/tracks_and_s
ign http//mnhc.ucsc.edu/natural_history_club_pag
es/scat_that_told_all.html http//www.heptune.com
/poop.html
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http//www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/e_break/poo_qu
iz/spot_poo_quiz.shtml http//www.poopreport.com/
BMnewswire/937.html Exercise 3 http//people.eku.
edu/ritchisong/birdcommunication.html http//www
.birds.cornell.edu/brp/ResBird.html http//petcar
etips.net/bird-language.html http//www.inhs.uiuc
.edu/chf/pub/virtualbird/student/les6.html
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