May 2024 Quiz

NOTE: With all of the answers below, If you have an alternate opinion about any one, please share! We are all here to learn from each other. Even the most experienced trackers continue to expand their knowledge through their own and others’ experiences, so don’t hesitate to share additional information, observations, questions, or experience.

In the spirit of community learning, we use first names of participant’s responses in these quizzes to draw out elements of observations. If you’d rather that we don’t use your name, just ask us!

There are 10 questions in this quiz, some are from the northeastern and midwestern USA, Canada, Sweden, and some are from South Africa. More exact locations are given with the individual questions.

Question 1. 

This photo comes from Shane Hawkins in Pennsylvania, near the border of southwestern NY, USA, North America.  

Who made this? Describe what you see. Can you say something about the life cycle of this being?

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ANSWER: Bagworm – This protective structure is used mainly by the larval stage of a caterpillar, but is also used to overwinter eggs.

Mark said, “Pupa of a bagworm moth?” But why, Mark? <<grin>>

Michael added, “This looks to be a small bag worm/case moth larvae. The larva attach twigs, leaf pieces etc. to make a camouflaged sac that it lives in. The larva hide inside the sac or poke their head and legs out to move around.”

Shane thought that this could be a “mini bagworm moth” larval case. 

Question 2. 

This photo comes from Shane Hawkins in Southwestern New York, USA, North America.

What happened here? Who was the prey, who do you think was the predator?

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ANSWER: Yellow Shafted Flicker Feathers – likely killed by a raptor 

Kimber, Jim, Logan and Melinda all got this one correct, which isn’t that easy to do in person, let alone from a photo!

Kimber said, “Yellow-shafted northern flicker was eaten. By someone who plucked the feathers from the ground, since the overall scene is compact. The larger feathers came out individually, not in clumps, and I don’t see the quills cut off by shearing teeth, so I think a bird plucked out the feathers with their beak rather than a mammal cutting or pulling out feathers in chunks. What sort of hawks or big owls you have there?”

Jim added, “Looks to me like a yellow-shafted flicker was killed, plucked, and consumed by a raptor (best guess, Cooper’s hawk). The fact that the feathers are plucked rather than bitten off (and thereby matted with saliva) eliminates, for me, a mammalian predator.”

Question 3. 

These photos were taken by Sören Decraene in central Sweden, Europe. The photos zoom in, increasingly, as you scan from left to right.

Who left this trail? Why?

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Sören respectfully (and humorously) said, “Not gonna answer this one 😇”

Mark, Kimber, Jim and Logan all got this one. 

Logan said, “I’d call this a salamander or newt trail. I see a central drag line which could be a tail or belly, with alternating tracks on either side (instead of tracks being perfectly opposite one another). In the tracks it looks like there are tracks with 5 toes and perhaps some with 4 toes, which would fit the morphology of many salamander sp. we have in North America (which tend to have 4 toes on front feet and 5 on the hind).”

Question 4. 

This photo was taken by Shane Hawkins in Central Ohio, USA, North America.

Who left this scat? Why?

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Mark hypothesized correctly, “Raccoon, because it is always raccoon. (Total Guess).”

And Melinda added, “Large scat pile tubular, uniform and blunt, deposited on a high surface (the log). The wascally waccoon.”

Jim provided some more detail, with, “tubular, fairly homogeneous, roughly finger-diameter scat, in a pile showing older and fresher specimens, at a fork in a dead tree lying horizontal at waist height off the ground. This is a raccoon latrine. (I’ve been told that raccoons have the distinction of having the most human-like scat of any North American mammal. So there’s that feature to add).”

And Logan added the final “aquatic” factoid, with, “I see a long tubular scat on a log, dark in color with maybe some white flecks in it. I’d call this a Raccoon scat, particularly if it was found near water.” 

Question 5.

This photo was taken by Shane Hawkins in central Ohio, USA, North America.

What species was here? Describe what you see. Which direction do you think it was heading (left or right), and why?

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Everyone got this one! 

Sloan started us off with, “Frog/toad with hinds and front feet, going to the right because the back feet are pointed that way.”

And Kimber gave more detail, with, “Large frog with smooth tapered long toes (4 facing inward on the front feet, 5 facing forward on the hinds) so bullfrog. You can see the inner metatarsal tubercule near the base of hind toes 1, and it is similar in size to the toe tips. Headed right because the hind toe dots form an arrow pointing in the direction of travel.”

Question 6.

This photo was taken by Sandy Reed in the Greater Kruger area of South Africa.

Who left this track? Describe what you see.

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Almost everyone got this one, coming to at least a large lizard species. Michael had the most comprehensive answer, with, “This is the walking tracks of a monitor lizard, heading up in the photo. There is a tail mark in the middle of diagonally alternating foot prints. The hind prints are visible showing the more or less forwards facing first 4 toes, which get progressively longer as you go from the inside toe 1 to toe 4 which is the longest. The outside toe five is poking out to the side nearly 90 degrees. The front prints are mostly obscured by the hind prints but might be partially visible at the top of the photo poking out from under the front of the hind prints.”

Question 7.

This photo was taken by Sandy Reed in Ontario, Canada, North America.

What happened here? Who do you think is responsible? Why?

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Again, almost everyone got this one! 

Sören compared it with his local species in Sweden, and came close, with, “looks similar to feeding sign of a black woodpecker in Europe looking for insect larvae.”

And Kimber nailed it, with, “Pileated woodpecker gouged into a dead tree to eat insects, maybe wood boring beetles given the tiny round emergence holes and surface galleries on the less-disturbed wood. No other woodpecker here makes such large or deep holes when feeding.”

Question 8. 

This photo was taken by Kersey Lawrence in the Greater Kruger area of South Africa.

Who left this trail? Describe what you see. What was this being doing?

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We had a variety of answers for this, including some generalized answers for birds and invertebrates. Michael gave the most comprehensive answer, with, “Dung beetle – walking. I see the prints of the front feet in the middle of the trail. I suspect the outside prints are from the middle feet and the hind prints are in between and include linear drag marks. I see conflicting indicators for direction of travel so I’m not sure – the C shape of the higher set of front prints seems to indicate travel to the right, but the C shape of the lower set of front prints seems to indicate travel to the left. IF the lowest line of prints are middle prints and IF the middle prints have a similar C shape to the front prints then these indicate travel to the right. The angle of the hind prints suggests travel to the right.”

Funny, I didn’t notice the conflicting indicators until Michael (and Kimber) pointed them out. I just looked quickly and determined that the beetle was rolling the ball to the left – but now I see the dilemma. Regardless, dung beetles do a little handstand and push off with their front feet on the ground, back feet up over their heads on top of the dung ball, moving backwards upside down. Usually those little “C” shapes from the pushing of the front feet are arched away from the direction of travel, but it’s hard to be certain here! 

Question 9. 

This photo was taken by Sandy Reed in the Greater Kruger area of South Africa.

What happened here? Who is responsible?

Scroll down for the answer. 

Many thought a bird left behind some “whitewash.” Jim narrowed this down, with, “Such a combination of scattered, nipped-off browse and a mineral, dried-urine stain would be characteristic of lagomorphs (i.e., cottontail or BTJR) in, say, the Cuyama Valley. By extension, I suspect a species of South African lagomorph left this sign.”

And Melinda and Kimber, who have been to our area of South Africa on our Tracking Intensive, were able to determine the exact species: “Dried urine. Scrub hare,” and, “A scrub hare peed and the dried remains are white from the solids/minerals.”

Question 10. 

This photo was taken by Sandy Reed in the Greater Kruger area of South Africa.

What happened here? Who is responsible? Why? (Sandy’s boots are for scale, inside the track.)

Scroll down for the answer.

Almost everyone got this one! We are going to have to make them more complex – just kidding… tracking from photos is hard, and we applaud your willingness to put yourselves out there and learn. 

I loved Kimber’s answer, because it is also a question: “An elephant walked into the water. Huge round foot with creases and no evident toes or nails. I see them dragging their foot toward the water, and then as they step out the track wall is deeper and more vertical with some substrate kicked forward. My eval nemesis question – have I gotten it more clearly now?” 

Yes, Kimber, you got it! 

Well done to all, and keep going! Lets’ continue to learn together!

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