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The Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project hosted a Practice Assessment the weekend of November 1-2. Nine people from Minnesota and Wisconsin participated in this CyberTracker style "mock evaluation" at sites around Hidden Falls Regional Park and Crosby Farm Regional Park. Participants answered 56 questions covering 14 species of mammals, 7 species of birds, 2 invertebrates, and 1 abiotic process. 30 questions focused on identification and interpretation of tracks; the remainder covered sign left on the landscape, including evidence of communication, feeding, scat, and nests or beds. Highlights included perfect tracks of a red fox in sand; a fantastic flying squirrel latrine and beaver sign at Hidden Falls; a beautifully camouflaged buck bed and nearby scrape; and not one, but two examples of raccoons noshing their way through different invertebrates in our urban parks.
Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project members who score in the 90s on one of our Practice Assessments are invited to join our team of Tracking Club Facilitators. Congratulations to Sue Dahl, Melissa Ulrich, and Haleigh Ziebol for achieving this milestone!
Tremendous thanks to everyone who participated in the weekend. If you're interested in joining a 2026 practice assessment, join our newsletter and you'll be first to know when applications open.
Eagle's nest at Hidden Falls North (Q7).
Gorgeous red fox tracks with clear heel bar (Q21& 22).
Evidence of a raccoon digging up a crayfish chimney (Q32, bonus).
Deer bed tucked in behind mounds of dead grapevine and grass stalks...
...And the gorgeous buck resting in that same bed on Friday (10/31/25).
An otter romped along the shore underneath the 494 bridge, leaving a left hind track. (Q25 & 26).
Who's digging around in the maple leaf litter? Jon debriefs evidence of raccoons digging up earthworms (Q47).
Tracks of juncos feeding on seeds (Bonus).
Raccoon scat filled with hackberry drupes (Q45 & 46).
Another scat on a log -- squirrel pellets from crevices atop this log (Q52).
The left front track of an eastern cottontail (Q18 & 19).
What an incredible scat you've discovered! Flying squirrel scat spills out of a hole in a silver maple (Q3).
Bill debriefs red fox tracks with his custom-made visual aids (Q21 & 22).
Jon debriefs the finer points of squirrel scat for the group.
The group discusses rabbit track morphology.
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