Cybertracker Specialist Evaluations

Over the break we had a blitz of tracking evaluations.  Alderleaf instructors Michelle Peziol and Connor O'Malley traveled down to San Diego for one evaluation, then back to Washington for another one the following weekend.  Both of us scored over a 100% in San Diego earning our Track and Sign Specialist certificates!  Only 20 people in North America have earned their Specialist certificate and Michelle is the first woman in North America to do it!  Big congratulations to her.  In fact, only four women in the world are certified as Track and Sign Specialists.  It is quite an honor to have her here at Alderleaf!  Congratulations to Nate Harvey and Preston Taylor who also earned their specialist certificates and congratulations to everyone else who took the evaluations - it was a great group of folks to go tracking with.

Here are some pictures from the evals:

Evaluator, Jonah Evans explains some red-tailed hawk tracks.

Bonus question: greater yellowlegs.

Here is where a flicker landed and left impressions from its tail feathers in the mud!

Lizard tracks.

Slug feeding sign.

Stonefly tracks and exoskeleton. 

Small mink tracks.  

Grass ball marked by a beaver.  

Old black bear sign feeding on cambium. 

Here is where a female elk marked a tree with her incisors.  

More incisor marking from female elk.  We can tell that it was not feeding because there was a pile of bark scraps on the ground.  Female elk will mark trees this way because they don't have antlers like the bulls do.  

Congratulations to all and special thanks to Mark Elbroch, Casey McFarland and Jonah Evans.