Increase Your Chances At Seeing Wildlife

I've spent almost the entirety of the past few years observing animals, studying them, and teaching people about them. One of the main questions people ask me, is "How can I see what you see?". Well, here are some of my secrets. These are my personal tips on how to see more animals while you are hiking or just outside, even for an hour.

• Look Up.     Birds are the most obvious animals that you might see while looking up, though just over a week ago, a person in my hiking party spooked a roughed grouse from right under her feet, so always keep your eyes all over the place.  Believe it or not, some species that people usually see on the ground can easily be found in trees.  Black snakes and green snakes are animals that can easily "pop out" in your eyesight from above, as they are very good at climbing in trees.  Bears and groundhogs also commonly go up into trees, despite many people's beliefs about them.

• Look Down.    Looking down gives you the opportunity to see more salamanders, frogs, chipmunks, and even animal tracks.  If you can find animal tracks, identify them, and take a mental note of what is around.  Look for the specific animal while continuing to walk.

• Walk Slowly.    Some of you might be reading the above bullet points and are thinking "How can you both look up and down at the same time?"  Well, you can't, so walk slowly so you can repeatedly do each.  Walking slowly also can be a quieter type of walk, lessening the chances of you scaring wildlife.

• Pish!    Pishing is making the sound "pish" with your mouth, repeatedly for a few seconds. This is a little naturalist and biologist trick to scare birds from their hiding places, making them fly out from thick leaves or brush.  This can be tricky though, as some birds will get too scared and fly off very fast and very far.

• Look for both color differences and movement.   Black bears against a green background and red cardinals against white snow are some really easy examples of color differences you should look for.  It's easy, as a lot of animals stick right out against various backgrounds, even the most camouflaged ones.   Animals move, sometimes extremely slowly, but they move! Even the most camouflaged wildlife will move, providing a better opportunity for you to see them, as they move against these different backgrounds.

• Get outside.  This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it's one of the most important.  Just walking a mile in your local park a few times a week can provide very interesting wildlife sightings.  Increase your chances and get another excuse to get outside.

• Use binoculars.   Binoculars really help you hone on the wildlife you have detected using your regular eyesight.  They can also be used to scan large fields and meadows from a distance, limiting the chances of you scaring the wildlife when you first enter a field.

• Use your peripheral vision.    Most animals that I see are seen first by my peripheral vision. This happens because this type of vision can detect movement very effectively.  Color differences are also picked up easier if you use your peripheral vision more.

• Protect your eyes while in the woods.   If going off trail or walking on a property with no trail, I highly recommend wearing sunglasses or safety glasses.  I commonly wear shooting glasses, as they are easily accessible to me, and are very effective.  I've both been told this (by other biologists, as well as multiple conservation officers) and learned the hard way to always protect your eyes.  Going into the woods might mean that branches and thorns will be in the way of you.  This very easily leads down to a road of pain and misery.  Also, gnats have a harder chance of getting into your eyes if you wear sunglasses.  Protect those eyes!  You'll be glad you did, besides, if you have injured eyes, it's very hard to see wildlife.

• Invest in a field guide.   Some field guides provide useful information on whereabouts of certain animals, especially at different times of the year.  It's worth a few dollars if you are outside all the time.

• Get High!     Ascend quietly onto ridges and small peaks in a forest.  Be extremely silent as you are going uphill.  Once you get to the top, look down and look for movement. This is how I often see deer, bear, and turkeys.

Wildflowers of Northern Virginia's Early Springtime

I left for a short hike today to check a camera trap (with minimal results) and eventually found myself taking a detour on some trails where I knew there were some interesting wildflowers.

Yesterday before work, I did the same and found a plethora of beautiful photo opportunities.  Although I have only been using my cell phone's camera to capture these, I feel that the photos have turned out pretty well.

These flowers are mostly ephemeral, which means that they only bloom and "come out" for a very short time.  It really depends on the species, but some of them are only in bloom for a period of multiple days to a few weeks.  There are so many more than the ones that I have seen and posted on here, but those will have to wait for another day.

I hope you all enjoy looking at these.

Virginia bluebells nearing peak bloom.  Fairfax County, VA

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are just about in full bloom in various locations in Loudoun and Fairfax counties.  They seem to be a real staple for people doing wildflower walks along the Potomac River and other flowing water bodies.  In some places, they come out in the tens of thousands (or more!) and can be a breathtaking sight. 

To see them in Northern Virginia, look near sandy/muddy areas in parks or private lands (with permission, of course).


Dutchman's Breeches.  Fairfax County, Virginia

Dutchman's Breeches  (Dicentra cuccularia) are some of the most interesting ones in the area.  Look at the shape of those blooms!

It's not a complete rarity in the area, as some people may believe, but to find it can be a bit tricky.

In a general sense, an easy way of finding these may be to look where bluebells are also blooming, as they tend to prefer similar soils and forests.  They can be found in other places though.  The "breeches" in the common name refers to the similar shape of sort of pants worn years ago.

Northern Virginia's beautiful sessile trillium.

Sessile Trillium (Trillium sessile) is another really interesting looking flower that inhabits Virginia. 

To me, it's interesting to see brown in a flower (pictured in the center of the flower), as a lot of other flower species on the ground that people commonly see are brightly colored.

I found a few here and there along the Potomac River a few days ago, but came upon a few large patches eventually after looking for a while.



Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)  is one that never seems to get past my eyes when I'm out and about in the woods this time of year.

It's all over un-mowed lawns, deep forests, and even near the Potomac River.  It can be hard to miss in places, as there are patches of it where individual flowers range in the thousands.  It's no wonder that it's called "spring beauty" as it is a wonderful sight to see after a long winter like the one we had this past year.  Each petal is streaked with a darker pink or purple color, and it can be fairly easy to identify.  Look for these in basically any wooded area in Loudoun or Fairfax, and you have a decent chance of finding them. 





Spring beauty flowers in bloom in Sterling, VA.

A Shenandoah Hike and a Fairfax County Camera Check

Today was a great day for hiking and camera checking.  The trails of Shenandoah National Park were calling my name and I had to get out there on this day off of work and school.  There was still some snow on the ground from previous storms but today was about 58 degrees and decently sunny.

It was a great hike that led us down the trail to a great basalt rock formation. . .

. . .and a large ice formation left over from this winter's coldest days.

It was a good day to just get out and enjoy the outdoors.

Another highlight of the day came from when checking a camera-trap in Chantilly after the hike.

Cats, dogs, coyotes, cardinals, humans, red foxes, and raccoons all came by the camera.

Here's the best picture of a Chantilly Coyote.