Wildlife Inventories

A wildlife inventory includes documentation of the mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians present on a site, with an assessment of the value of the different wildlife habitats present, and a look at the site's significance in the context of the surrounding landscape. I detect wildlife using a combination of sightings, sounds, scents, tracks, and sign.

I have studied animal tracking for about a decade, early on taking courses with Paul Rezendes, John McCarter, Mark Elbroch, Sue Morse, and Tom Brown. I have earned a Track and Sign Level III certificate from Cybertracker Conservation (the evaluation process is explained here).

My experience with birds includes three seasons of breeding bird surveys throughout Vermont for the Vermont Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit. I have banded several thousand birds for the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory (New York), the Klamath Bird Observatory (Oregon), and the Dead Creek Bird Observatory (Vermont), and have been certified at the Bander level by the North American Banding Council. I also spent a summer studying black-throated blue warblers as part of a long-term study at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire.

My field herpetology experience includes several seasons of assisting with a study of marbled salamanders at the University of Massachusetts, which involved identifying numerous species of reptiles and amphibians that shared the focal species' habitat. I also conducted a townwide vernal pool survey for the Town of Pelham, MA, finding and documenting 50 pools for certification by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.

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