Tracking with Paul Rezendes

After a superficial weekend gesture toward spring, complete with coat-unzipping temperatures and bare grass, Ontario skies dumped an easy 30 cm (1 ft) of snow on Monday. Though no fan of late-winter white stuff, I decided to try my eye at tracking.

My library (even my life, it sometimes seems) is littered with field guides: Eastern Butterflies, Birds of North America, Shrubs of Ontario, the list goes on. I know that tugging a Coptis groenlandica shoot up from the leaf mould will reveal a beautiful golden root, that at least 14 warbler species nest within a short jog of my cottage, and that raccoon front footprints look almost human.

But just as one may know a person without understanding him, the same is true of nature, and much more so! We can watch and appreciate the beauty and passage of seasons without reading the stories they have to tell. Nature is the wisest of teachers, but in a society increasingly removed from the land, most of us have forgotten how to listen. My own urban heritage has given me no legacy of folk knowledge, and I have often wondered how I could begin to recognize Earth's lessons.

I have just started reading Paul Rezendes' The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings. He is also author of Tracking and The Art of Seeing. I have only read two chapters so far, but I can see it will lead me on a long-awaited adventure. Rezendes begins by recounting a day following a bobcat's prints through rugged woodland with a group of his tracking students. He also gives instructions for a similar exercise of one's own to carry out in the backyard, city park or woods. He recommends following whatever tracks you can find, even your household cat's. The object is not to actually find the animal, but by following its path to learn its nature. In so doing, we uncover deeper insight into the web of life and ourselves.

This begins to answer my quest for deeper intimacy with the earth. And in case that purpose isn't practical enough, my daughters will be joining me for their March Break this Saturday, and I know a tracking excursion will engage them for an afternoon.

For the most satisfying experience, one needs a field guide. Identification of animal tracks and scat (droppings) appears to be a closely guarded secret on the Web. Sure, there are plenty of workshops and tracking schools boasting teachers like Rezendes himself. Knowledge always seems to come at a price! But what about parents of eager young naturalists trying to give guidance on a limited budget?

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