Help - Your Tips For Spotting Wildlife

[Nature Man]

Eyes, ears, nose, all play an integral part in finding wildlife but your movement will kill your quest quickly. You may be proficient in all those senses to find the game but knowing how to move in the wilderness without spooking is a hard discipline to learn. Movement is what all animals pay attention to. Move slowly, a few steps at a time, stop, look, and listen. When you hear something don't move until your eyes fall on your objective. Then only move when the animal moves. No spitting, talking, etc. Stealth is the key to successful stalking.

 

[Rodamu]

Find a place where wildlife is likely to be, especially a lake or stream, sit and wait. Moving toward animals scarres them; stay still and the animals will come. This was driven home when after our local Audubon group finished a bird walk around a local reservoir, one elderly lady got a lawn chair from her car and went back to the lake shore and just sat waiting to see what would show up. She later reported she saw more birds than our group did.
Joining group nature walks, such as those conducted by a local Audubon Society, is an excellent way to learn where wildlife can be found. These organizations and local tourist promotion agencies often have a publication giving "hot spots" for wildlife. Once you are in a good location, follow the observational guidelines given in previous posts on this subject.

 

[Marco74]

I meant I do use a bird feeder all winter and that way I get a lot of good images I would otherwise not get, also in the bushes and trees nearby. I just missed it in the thread, that is why I posted as a question.

Sorry, MikeA, English is not my native language so sometimes I don't understand correctly.

 

[Scooter]

One very keen element to always remember is wind direction! Walk or travel with the wind to you face . Keep in mind birds always land and take off into the wind . Big game such as deer and elk use the wind to detect what is coming there way .

 

[tjphxaz]

I typically don't check the forum until I get Steve's weekly highlights (frankly I'm trying to cut back on my time in front of the computer to spend more time taking and processing images). Anyway, there is always so much good information submitted by folks. This topic of spotting wildlife is no exception. Here are my tips:
- Understand that wildlife are motivated mainly by two things: food and sex. Understanding where and how they get both is helpful.
- Know the area you are looking in, especially where the food and water sources are.
- Be patient and then be more patient. Look (use binos when helpful) and Listen. I learned from the guides on Steve's CR workshop that listening and returning to areas where you have seen wildlife in the past improves your chances of finding them.
- If you have someone who enjoys getting outdoors with you and who doesn't do photography they can be very helpful spotting wildlife. Fortunately my wife of 51 years fits the criteria.
- When you spot wildlife on the move try to anticipate where they are going, get in front of them if you can and wait. Wait a little longer.
- And, wildlife are where you find them which can be anywhere and everywhere. So, have your camera and gear ready. I have seen several large herd of elk and deer on the drive down the hill from our vacation cabin in eastern AZ as I was on my way out for an all day trip in search of wildlife.

 

[Ricochet]

The more time you spend out in the woods the quicker you'll pick up on things that are out of the ordinary. You'll get to the point where you'll stop because something just caught your eye, even if you don't recognize what it is. Usually takes me a few days to get my "wildlife eyes" tuned in.
Not really about spotting wildlife but one other tip I can offer is to act like you're in the rough part of town when approaching or being approached by wildlife, avoid eye contact. Some animals seem to sense it when you stare at them.

 

[Ron Norman]

I like to use all those mention so far, but one additional benefit is to join your local Audubon group and go on some outing with them. You will be amazed at the number of birds they can identify before any one in the group actually sees the bird.
The other thing I like to do is to use my vehicle as a moving blind as I visit my favorite places on the island that I live.
Once I spot the bird, hawks, owls, eagles, I pull away and preset my camera settings for the space and color that will allow me to get the best shot. Then I re-approach the best perspective and now am thinking about my background. Shut down the engine to minimize vibration.
One trick I use for shooting in manual mode is to preset the exposure on a nearby telephone pole. This comes really close to 18 gray.

 

[ssheipel]

During the last live stream, someone asked a great question about how to find wildlife. I thought it might make a good "top 10" video but I also thought it might be beneficial to ask the members here for your advice as well.

So, what tips, tricks, and techniques do you use in the field when you're trying to spot an animal?

I'll start with what I have so far:

1. Watching for movement not caused by wind
2. Learning what an animal looks like in it's habitat (a catch 22 to be sure, at least at first)
3. Looking for a horizontal line in a mass of vertical lines (like the back of a deer in the grass)
4. Looking down branches and spotting "lumps" on those branches as you work your way down them visually (i.e. a perched bird or animal)
5. Trying to spot fur or feathers clumped up in a hole
6. Looking for falling leaves - often there's an animal above
7. Learning animal coloration and watching for those colors
8. Looking for silhouettes
9. Watch for small "parts" of an animal - like an antler or tail.

Those are a few off the top of my head, but I feel like I'm missing some obvious ones (a bit of cognitive flatulence I suppose) and I'd welcome some new ideas as well.

Great list. I'd add "Use your ears." Certainly with birds I listen for their presence first, but also, during rut at least, elk and moose I usually hear before I see them.

 

[MorganP]

My best tip is get up and get out before the sun.

 

[IainD]

The Quetzal guides in Costa Rica sometimes smell the trees. Quetzal soil their own nest and can smell rather bad.
Also, don't overlook hiring someone with local knowledge.
Iain

 

[Woodpecker]

Once I get in the area I am interested in the number of spottings is almost reciprocally proportional to the speed I am moving with - even if I do everything to move quietly. The more time I spend quiescent myself nailed to a spot from time to time, listining to noises (falling/cacking twigs, scratching on trees, animals making sounds) and then trying to identify movements in the direction of the noise the better it gets. The creatures around me constantly remind me of the fact that regarding our primary senses humans are probably some of the most degenerated creatures on earth . If tend to be able to spot movement better if I try NOT to focus on a particular location or subject, but just kind of looking in a direction in an almost uninvolved, unfocused manner like you would look over the sea while sitting on the beach thinking. This kind of opens your view and it is easier to spot movement across the entire area you have in sight. If you concentrate too much on looking somewhere in particular, your internal "Expeed processor" does something that I would describe with "virtual vignetting". Although you have a given field of view depending on your location, the more you concentrate on a particular area or spot the more your brain takes the rest of your field of view "out of sight" by "darkening it in post".

However, it can get scary sometimes ! Today I was out doing what I just described and had my eyes, ears and mind open - for my field of view. What I didn't realize was that a squirrel must have made its way right onto my backpack laying somewhere behind me. Then I spotted something and started to move for getting the shot, when the squirrel realized that I was not a tree with a black pipe sticking out of it. The noise it made when shouting at me while accelerating full throttle off the rough nylon surface of the backpack scared the sh** out of me and I found myself laying on the ground trying to catch some air with the camera having landed on a large moss cushion....

 

[SandyW]

However, it can get scary sometimes ! Today I was out doing what I just described and had my eyes, ears and mind open - for my field of view. What I didn't realize was that a squirrel must have made its way right onto my backpack laying somewhere behind me. Then I spotted something and started to move for getting the shot, when the squirrel realized that I was not a tree with a black pipe sticking out of it. The noise it made when shouting at me while accelerating full throttle off the rough nylon surface of the backpack scared the sh** out of me and I found myself laying on the ground trying to catch some air with the camera having landed on a large moss cushion....

Similar experience, but yours was much better!

 

[Nature Man]

Once I get in the area I am interested in the number of spottings is almost reciprocally proportional to the speed I am moving with - even if I do everything to move quietly. The more time I spend quiescent myself nailed to a spot from time to time, listining to noises (falling/cacking twigs, scratching on trees, animals making sounds) and then trying to identify movements in the direction of the noise the better it gets. The creatures around me constantly remind me of the fact that regarding our primary senses humans are probably some of the most degenerated creatures on earth . If tend to be able to spot movement better if I try NOT to focus on a particular location or subject, but just kind of looking in a direction in an almost uninvolved, unfocused manner like you would look over the sea while sitting on the beach thinking. This kind of opens your view and it is easier to spot movement across the entire area you have in sight. If you concentrate too much on looking somewhere in particular, your internal "Expeed processor" does something that I would describe with "virtual vignetting". Although you have a given field of view depending on your location, the more you concentrate on a particular area or spot the more your brain takes the rest of your field of view "out of sight" by "darkening it in post".

However, it can get scary sometimes ! Today I was out doing what I just described and had my eyes, ears and mind open - for my field of view. What I didn't realize was that a squirrel must have made its way right onto my backpack laying somewhere behind me. Then I spotted something and started to move for getting the shot, when the squirrel realized that I was not a tree with a black pipe sticking out of it. The noise it made when shouting at me while accelerating full throttle off the rough nylon surface of the backpack scared the sh** out of me and I found myself laying on the ground trying to catch some air with the camera having landed on a large moss cushion....

Yep, I do the same thing. When I used to squirrel hunt I would just gaze at the tree and if that squirrel moved anywhere on the tree I would see it. Just gazing in the direction is the right way to detect movement throughout the scope of view. Thanks for the squirrel story.

 

[markinWat]

During the last live stream, someone asked a great question about how to find wildlife. I thought it might make a good "top 10" video but I also thought it might be beneficial to ask the members here for your advice as well.

So, what tips, tricks, and techniques do you use in the field when you're trying to spot an animal?

I'll start with what I have so far:

1. Watching for movement not caused by wind
2. Learning what an animal looks like in it's habitat (a catch 22 to be sure, at least at first)
3. Looking for a horizontal line in a mass of vertical lines (like the back of a deer in the grass)
4. Looking down branches and spotting "lumps" on those branches as you work your way down them visually (i.e. a perched bird or animal)
5. Trying to spot fur or feathers clumped up in a hole
6. Looking for falling leaves - often there's an animal above
7. Learning animal coloration and watching for those colors
8. Looking for silhouettes
9. Watch for small "parts" of an animal - like an antler or tail.

Those are a few off the top of my head, but I feel like I'm missing some obvious ones (a bit of cognitive flatulence I suppose) and I'd welcome some new ideas as well.

 

[markinWat]

There are some awesome tips. I'd like to add a few things to try to illustrate some of the things we've learned as newbies to hopefully help some others.
Look for something out of place, something that doesn't belong.
such as "why is there a white patch at the top of the tree branches?"

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walk a little slower than usual, and look around. Pause often, watch your peripherals.
eg... walking along and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement and thought "I don't think that was a squirrel that ran up the tree."
Just hold on for a second and sure enough....

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Do a little bit of research.
eg. the fall salmon run. I had heard about the salmon swimming up a river to spawn.
We were going to go there and check it out. I did a bit of research, and instead of
just seeing hundreds of salmon swimming in the river, we got to see this...

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Look around.... Look up.
This time of year when the trees are bare is a fantastic time to find & see nests.

Eagle nests are positively massive. Look at the top of large, sturdy trees near a river.

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You may not be able to get close to it, but at least you know where it is and may get photos of them flying in and out.

Osprey nests...
if reasonably close to a source of fish, look on top of lights at ball diamonds, soccer & football fields, hydro towers, man-made platforms.
Once you have found one, you will start to see them everywhere!

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And be patient. Look around, check everything out.
On one particular outing, I went down to a pond to check out a massive beaver lodge.
(I bet it was the size of a Grand Caravan) My "spotter" just stayed up on the main trail. Major bummer!
I snapped off a couple of photos and headed back up to the trail, in a hurry to get to the Cormorant colony. I didn't look around.
If I had, I would have noticed the wood ducks in the reeds all around the pond.
(My spotter would have scoured the shore and noticed them for sure.)

Hope these will help.
Happy shooting!

 

[forestB]

Relax! I have found if I just sit in one place for a few minutes sometimes longer I’m not viewed as a threat. Lots of critters are curious and will check you out give them time to get used to your presence.

 

[Woodpecker]

Yep, I do the same thing. When I used to squirrel hunt I would just gaze at the tree and if that squirrel moved anywhere on the tree I would see it. Just gazing in the direction is the right way to detect movement throughout the scope of view. Thanks for the squirrel story.

Thanks ! Gazing was the word I was looking for