Watching Wildlife
By Laura Klappenbach, About.com Guide to Animals / Wildlife
Watching wildlife is the best way to learn about the many remarkable animals with whom we share planet Earth. The tips that follow are practical ways you can enhance your wildlife watching experiences. You'll learn how to plan a nature hike, record your nature observations, and fine-tune your animal identification skills. You can explore topics such as locating elusive animals, selecting a good field guide, and spotting animal tracks. So dust off your hiking boots, grab your binoculars, and get ready to enjoy the world of wildlife.
Basics of Watching Wildlife
Watching wildlife is a terrific pastime and these articles and tips will guide you as you venture outside to find animals and wildlife to observe. You'll also find out how to create and equip your own naturalist's laboratory, how to conduct simple experiments to learn about wildlife, and how to create detailed records of your observations throughout the seasons for the habitats you explore and study.
- A Beginner's Guide to Watching Wildlife
- How To Create Your Own Naturalist's Laboratory
- How Animals and Wildlife are Classified
- Practical Tips for Watching Wildlife
- A Guide to Buying Binoculars
Animal Behavior
Watching wildlife involves observing animal behavior. An understanding of animal behavior provides insights into how animals interact with each other and their environment. It can shed light on their evolution and natural history. The study of animal behavior explores how it impacts animal survival, what stimuli trigger behaviors, and how animals learn and communicate.
- An Introduction to Cetacean Behavior
- Hornbills Recognize Warning Calls of Monkeys
- Primate Gestures Offer Insights into Language Development
Animal Identification
When you're out in the field observing animals, it's always rewarding to identify the species you see. But the process of identification is often quite challenging. It requires a keen sense of observation, patience, research, and a bit of luck. These tips and insights will help you to fine-tune your wildlife watching skills so you can more accurately identify various animal groups and species.
- Amphibian and Reptile Identification Tips
- How Can You Tell One Panther Species from Another?
- Quiz - Bird Species From Around the World
- Quiz - Six Basic Animal Groups
- Quiz - Basic Mammal Groups
Backyard Wildlife
Your backyard is the best place to start watching wildlife--it's easy to get to, the wildlife you see there often returns time and again making identification a bit easier, and over time you see how the changing seasons affect the species around you. These articles examine the wildlife that lives just outside your back door--how to attract it, what to look for, and what to expect throughout the year.
- Gardening with Wildlife in Mind
- From Nature Hikes to Backyard Safaris
- Making Windows Safer for Birds
- Certify Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat
Birdwatching
Watching birds is among the most popular of all wildlife watching activities. Birds can be spotted in a wide range of habitats, from your own backyard to urban settings, to pristine wildernesses. You can see different species throughout the year, especially during migration season when birds are passing through to get to overwintering or breeding grounds.
Conservation / Endangered Species
Growing pressure from human activity has devastated wild places around the world. Humans change the landscapes around them and in turn damage and eliminate the environmental resources necessary to sustain animal diversity. Through conservation, people are working to protect wildlife around the globe and counter the effects of habitat destruction, illegal hunting, and pollution.
