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Wolf Journey Chapter Eight - Bird Vocalizations

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Jay and the Puma story as experienced and told by Chrism to be uploaded ASAP. Song of the Lion written and performed by Chrism to be uploaded ASAP. Owl and the Eagle music written by Jack Gladstone to be uploaded ASAP. To listen to these audio files, you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system. Inspirational Artwork by Joanna Colbert.

Introduction & Contents:
• Field Exercise 8A - Observing Your Favorite Bird
• Field Exercise 8B - Learn Your Bird Voices
• Field Exercise 8C - Bird Tracking, Sketching & Journaling
• Field Exercise 8D - Sharing Your Bird Voices
• Chapter 8 Celebration

My little sisters, the birds, much bounden are ye unto God, your Creator, and always in every place ought ye to praise Him, to that He hath given you liberty to fly about everywhere, and hath also given you double and triple raiment; moreover, He preserved your seed in the ark of Noah, that your race might not perish out of the world; still more are ye beholden to Him for the element of the air which He hath appointed for you; beyond all this, ye sew not; neither do you reap; and God feedeth you, and giveth you the streams and fountains for your drink; the mountains and the valleys for your refuge and the high trees whereon to make your nests; and because ye know not how to spin or sew, God clotheth you, you and your children; wherefore your Creator loveth you much, seeing that He hath bestowed on you so many benefits; and therefore, my little sisters, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praises unto God.

- Saint Francis of Assisi

My second grade teacher was giving us a written test in language arts and I smugly turned in my paper, laughing at how easy the questions were this time. She was quizzing us about the ways of nature. The next day, I hurriedly looked at my paper, expecting to have aced the test.

I was devastated to realize I had gotten wrong what I had thought was the easiest question on the test. Do animals talk to each other? Of course they do. After playing in the woods of northern Minnesota every day of my young life, and befriending the robins of our family garden, I knew that animals - especially the birds - talked to each other all the time.

But Mrs. Stromwick, bless her heart, marked my answer wrong, and it was a life changing moment. I’m not sure I ever felt a part of nature again for the next fifteen years of my schooling, not until I read Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature and Survival for Children after graduating from college.

Upon finishing his book, I went outside to sit quietly, in my garden. I listened, just like I had done as a child, and the birds woke me up again to the spirit of nature. I heard more than bird songs and calls. I heard what Brown referred to as the “concentric rings" of communication in nature.

The concentric rings of nature are, simply, animals talking to one another. Don’t dismiss it, but don’t believe it, until you’ve really listened to them in action. Mostly, the birds are the newscasters of nature, although the squirrels, frogs and other animals are very vocal as well.

Consider for a second the possibility that a whole new world of nature may remain hidden from if you don’t take time to learn the language of the birds. Don’t you have the vague feeling that you hike past a lot of hidden wildlife – the deer laying in the thicket, the coyote silently watching your every move, or the minutes-old cougar tracks indicating that she heard you coming?

Many of us love gardening, maybe for the beautiful flowers the birds pollinate, or to witness the interaction of plants with the elements, or simply to breathe the clean, fresh air hovering over the upturned soil. But how often have we stopped to wonder what a bird visiting our garden is saying to us? We may love bird watching, and we may even be able to identify many species by their songs. But what happens when we finish our checklists?

Understanding bird language gives “bird watching" a whole new meaning. The birds aren’t just randomly singing. In fact, each bird has a wide range of voices and calls, specific to particular circumstances. If we can understand their language, they will tell us what’s happening in our gardens, as well as in the wilderness.

Concentric rings of communication in nature happen just like the waves created by throwing a pebble into a calm pool of water. Imagine a bobcat stalking a robin, which in turn is hunting worms on the edge of our garden. If the robin sees that bobcat, the robin will fly to safety and give sharp alarm calls, which will be repeated by all surrounding song birds, and then echoed by birds further in the distance.

City birds are really only concerned about passing messages originating within their surrounding block, because too much is happening within a small vicinity. Rural birds will probably pass along messages only the distance between county roads, since there is still a lot of repetitious human activity going on that they tend to ignore.

Birds in the wilderness will tell you what is happening miles away. This, for instance, is how the infamous Geronimo always eluded capture. Despite traditional in-fighting amongst the varied Apache tribes, plus 400 years of constant conflict with Mexico to the south, and then years of persuit by the U.S. Calvary, he never was unwillingly captured.

Why not? Bird Language. The popularization of this concept is one of Tom Brown's positive contributions to naturalist study, and his first student, Jon Young of the Wilderness Awareness School, helped to quantify the concept. Young places bird language into 5 categories, and he rightly suggests that it is only necessary to learn the language of the few birds most familiar to us. His five categories of bird language include the following:

• Songs
• Companion Calls
• Intra-Species Conflict Calls
• Begging Calls
• Alarm Calls

After years of experimenting with these categories of bird vocalizations, I have taken the liberty to add the following sub-categories, which I call the "3x5" system. The order is important, as the last sub-category in each section flows into the first sub-category of the next, starting at the top with the beginning of a bird's life, and ending with its death.

Begging:
chicks
juveniles
subordinates
Aggression:
attacking
interspecies
intraspecies
Song:
territorial
instinctual
attraction
Companion Calls:
mating
feeding
caution
Alarm Calls:
danger
panic
death cry

The begging call can be given, as you probably know, by chicks being fed by their parents. Just follow the “me-me-me” calls of these youngsters as the parents return with food, and you may get a glimpse of the cutest little things you’ve ever seen. Of course, predators follow these hungry calls as well, but if you find a chick “fallen” out of its nest, just leave the whole situation alone. Parents will generally continue to feed their chicks from the ground, and encourage them to hide in brush until they learn to fly to low branches.

I like to break down the 5 main categories of bird language into 3 further sub-categories. For begging calls, I have notices that in addition to chicks begging from their parents, that there are juveniles who continue to beg from their parents and also from other adults of their species. This can continue for several months. Then when birds begin to flock together during migrations and winter feeding times, there are often subordinate birds who continue to beg from more dominant members of their flock.

Conflict calls are also fun to know, and they can be used to lure nesting birds out of their hiding places. For instance, the red-wing blackbird is endemic to the entire United States, and specializes around cattail ponds. The high concentration of these birds in cattail ponds spawns constant male-to-male aggression, as they are protecting their harems of nesting females, as well as regularly trying to sneak into competing male territories for extra food, among other reasons.

Try hiding along the edge of a cattail pond, try making the classic "psht-psht" sound which often draws birds out of their hiding places. In another clear example of these conflic calls, you can regularly see hummingbirds “dive-bombing” others of their own species which are perched on a flower or at a feeder, whereupon they express their conflict call. I can watch them go at it all day long sometimes. And by the way, dive-bombing is an aggressive conflict call, not a mating display as I explain in the next section.

You will also often notice American Robins chasing each other while making rapid, sharp calls, and that's another common example of this conflict call sub-category, called intra-species competition and based on territorial nesting and feeding competition. But there are 2 other sub-categories of conflict calls that I've also noticed. One is inter-species competition, which occurs when two species which share the same niche compete for food, nesting materials and sites, or other resources.

Inter-species competition is easiest to see at bird feeders; only just today I marveled at a group of Evening Grosbeaks which dominated my feeders, causing the house finches to flutter and complain. Another more intense example of inter-species competition occurs when a more aggressive species takes over the nest of another species. This is not a pretty site, and it's easy to feel bad for the losing species. In fact, there are reports that some species die in the conflict, and the vocalizations coming from birds can be heart-wrenching.

The third sub-category of "conflict calls" best demonstrates that bird language is as much a study of sign language and posturing as it is of vocalizations. I call this sub-category the "hunting" or "predation" posture. This can vary from hawks hovering in mid-air before dive-bombing prey, to herons stalking a pond or field and then ever-so-slowly lowering their heads before striking.

Songs are not usually heard, of course, when the raptors are displaying their hunting posture. When you hear a bird singing, you can usually rest assured that there are no imminent dangers lurking within the area that concerns it. If the singing bird is a ground feeder, then you don’t really have to worry about things like cougars nearby. If you hear a colorful bird singing in the tree tops, then there are probably not any raptors nearby.

Of course, raptors and other predators are well versed in the bird language of their prey, so they do elude the concentric rings often enough to stay well fed. In fact, one of my students who was well versed in bird language experienced how a predator can elude bird alarms when a cougar managed to snatch her dog from right behind her. In fact, there are even times that birds seem little interested in predators, such as during the mating season dawn chorus. At other times, they just hide, and a dead silence can tip you off to danger.

It would be a good challenge for you to wake up for the dawn chorus each morning of the spring and early summer in order to figure out why birds sing so exuberantly at that time of day. Some scientists suggest that light stimulates their singing, but perhaps they simply never take a new day for granted and are singing their appreciation. During the rest of they day, it is often the males who are singing, usually around the edges of their territories.

So "territorial singing" as well as the mysteriouis "dawn chorus" singing are examples of this category of bird language, but of course there is also singing, sing language, and other behaviors designed to attract a mate. You may remember that I promised to revisit the striking "dive-bombing" behavior of hummingbirds. This is clearly an aggressive behavior that I used to wonder might be as much a way to show-off to potential mates.

However, the first winter I lived far enough south to have a year-round resident hummingbird, I noticed that starting in early spring, he would sit at the top of my hawthorne tree and chatter non-stop for what seemed like weeks before I noticed he was chasing a female. The chasing and the tree-top chatter-like singing continued for another week until I noticed some nest-building activity.

Companion calls flow from what we were just talking about, i.e., mating. Let's start with a related sub-category inside our next section called "companion calls." The related sub-cateory I'm referring to is another example of as much posturing as vocalization: the mating call, or copulation behavior. Without going into fascinating details, I'll just give an example of what I saw some Mallards doing in a near-by park today. Namely, they would lower their heads to water-level, and then the male would climb atop the female for a couple seconds, then they would separate and splash in a parculiar, cleaning-like way. Enough said for the sub-category "copulating" call.

Another sub-category of the companion call can vary from the chatter amongst a flock of birds as they feed in a tree, to a “check-in” between mates as they arrive or depart from the nest. Like singing, this is usually a sign that all-is-well for the birds. Classic examples of these calls include Bushtits, Juncos, and Chickadees giving their high-pitched "peeps' while feeding together high up in the trees; or the loon calling back to its mate after successfully taking off from the lake they are nesting on; or a pair of eagles calling to one another before returning to the nest.

The third sub-category of the companion call is a cautionary call, and a transition into alarm calls. I call this the "annoyance calls" which are given when something annoys a bird, but is not an imminent danger. For instance, Chickadees are names after their "annoyance call" which people mimmic as "chick-a-dee-dee-dee." Of course, that's the call the Chickadees give when people are around annoying them. They figure we aren't going to eat them, but they stop their high-pitched feeding chatter or their stop singing their beautiful 2-3 note whistle and fly out of our way before giving us their annoyance call.

The robin will give its classing "whinny" call when a human, or even a bear, lumbers by. They know they are too savvy for such big animals to catch them, so they just give their descending "whinny" annoyance call unless we scare them too much. In that case, they often move on to the first level "alarm call" which I explain next. But most "annoyance" calls are one simple "psht" or "tisk" or "peer" that if given in successtion, would constitute a bird's alarm call.

The alarm calls may be most important to know if you want to learn the language of the birds. These are the calls that would alert Geronimo to the presence of his enemies, and that will alert you to the presence of predators in nature. Certainly everyone should learn this language if only to stay safe from dangerous people they might otherwise encounter outside and to witness the owls hiding in the trees, the coyotes sneaking through the brush or the weasels darting here and there.

Again, there can be a progression from "companion calls" into the "alarm calls." In a workshop I attended with Jon Young, he demonstrated the “three strikes” rule as you approach wildlife. First, a bird may simply stop its feeding "check-in calls" and cock its head, eyeing you with your first “strike.” Second, the bird may pump its tail in preparation for flight, warning you for the final time that it will tell the whole forest you are there if you come any closer. It might even give its annoyance call, like one simple “tisk” uttered by a winter wren.

Come closer without turning your chest away - the chest being most birds' display of aggression - and "third strike:" the bird will fly to a perch to give a definite alarm call. If that happens, you can forget about ever seeing any wildlife on the ground for the next mile of your walk in the wilderness. In the case of the winter wren, it will give you its “tisk-tisk” call with increasing frequency, depending on how agitated it becomes. This is the first sub-category of alarm calls, the "danger call.

Next in the progression of alarm calls occurs when a bird is actually being pursued by a predator, and it will give a "panic call" usually along with all of its companions. Basically, this alarm call is telling its friends, “Escape! The slowest bird gets eaten!” Finally, if a bird, or any animal, is caught, it will give a death cry for help, which ironically attracts more predators, so it is also a dangerous time even for the animal which caught the bird.

Simple Start for Bird Lanague

If you want to keep it simple, it is really only necessary to learn the vocalizations of the American Robin, a bird that is endemic to all regions of North America, and which monitors all levels of terrain for us. If you don't have robins, then I recommend choosing 1) an "under-brush" feeder, such as a sparrow to tell you what's happening on the ground around the edges of your yard, 2) a resident tree-gleaner to tell you what is happening up above your normal line of sight, and 3) a water-loving bird such as the red-wing blackbird, or mallard duck to tell you what's happening around water.

If you want to go further, learn one raptor, one colorful (tree-top) song bird, and another favorite that covers a new part of your landscape and that can alert you to other things going on in nature. Also, notice those intelligent birds like jays and crows, because they will often fly or perch right above a predator to harass it, and you can often find larger animals sneaking by in this way.

But again, the robin may be all you need to study at first, as they will almost always sit just above resting raptors and sneaking predators while giving a constant "danger" alarm. Listen for that constant, jarring "peek" call of theirs. If it's not dusk when they use their "peek" alarm call and their "whinny" companion call to encourage hunkering down for the night, then by all means, investigate why they might otherwise be doing it! I always find owls and see coyotes doing this, and so will you!

Finally, part of what I just pointed out shows what it is important to notice what the birds do at various times of day. Robins are often the very first singers heralding the new day during the dawn chorus, and the last songbirds to utter "whinny" companion calls, and "peek" alarm calls advising others to "get to bed" at dusk. But notice also that during the nesting season, they usually make sounds like that before taking their high-noon siesta, and otherwise spend a lot of time singing all around the edges of their territories between their feeding sessions of early, mid, and late morning and afternoon/evening.

Whether you have a garden, yard, balcony, near-by park, or get to hike once in a while, remember to expand your hearing and know that you can learn the language of the birds, just as you can learn to communicate with your dog or cat. But why stop there? Communication with animals is as varied as there are languages on earth. For instance, I remember treeing a bobcat one winter after surprising it in a log pile. It kept closing its eyes lethargically, and I realized that it was indicating that it meant no threat toward me, and so I did the same. Like two cats not wanting to fight, we sent each other signals of our intention, then parted ways.

Mrs. Stromwick gave me a wonderful gift the day she told me animals don’t talk. She gave me a great resource I could use as a teacher later in life, an experience that would inspire me to learn the truth about bird language before I passed along this gift to others who love nature. Go now, and enjoy the language of the birds, and verify these thoughts with your own obsrvations. - Chrism

Field Exercise 8A – Observing Your Favorite Bird

Required Resource: Any good Field Guide to Birds.
Recommended Supplement: The Birder's Handbook.

Jon Young points out to us that it is only necessary to learn the language of about 10 birds - half of them the common ground feeders like Robins or Sparrows, a couple tree-top birds like Warblers, a fresh-water-loving song bird like the Red-Wing Blackbird, an open-water duck-like fowl, plus handy helpers like Jays. This common assortment will help tell you what is going on in all parts of your study site at all times, especially if you share a goal of ours which is to know the activity of the birds at all hours of the day, in all seasons, in every weather. We want to know these things for their own sake, but also because this knowledge will tell us much about what is going on anywhere within earshot, even blocks way, because the birds react to everything that happens in predictable patterns that we can learn to interpret.

____Think about what time of day, which season, and in what weather you plan to do this Field Exercise. These three factors will change the behavioral patterns of the birds, and they will utter different songs and calls to suit their situation. If you want lots of songs, go at dawn, or during a rare sunny break, or, well, you discover what they do under what circumstances. After deciding when to go, or perhaps you simply want to take your chances, hit the bathroom, grab the first aid and sanitary supplies, and drink some water. With your bird field guide in pack, head to your study site, practicing your Fox Walk.

____When you get to your study site, pause to greet the area with thanks for the lessons it is about to bestow upon you. Wander inside your study site boundaries using a slow Fox Walk, your Owl Eyes, and Deer Ears, until you find a location to pause. Wait for the birds to return to their normal activities if you've disturbed them. Pause where you feel inspired, or when you feel attracted to a bird. Despite their joyful singing above you, tree-top birds might be hard to identify, but ground-feeding birds might only be giving their warning calls due to your presence. Right now, however, all you need to do is identify any bird you want to get to know during the Field Exercises in this chapter.

____If you are having a hard time getting close enough to a bird to identify it, hide yourself in the best location which has a good view, and practice your Senses Meditations until you feel you have seen enough distinguishing features about a bird you see, such as breast color, wing markings, tail feather colors, eye or throat or crown colors, beak size, or other helpful markings. Also, observe how it flies, feeds, and what sounds it makes. These will likely be described in your field guide, and they will help you identify your bird. When you've identified it, read about it in your field guide, then set the book down, and try your best to stalk around the bird you chose, observing it and its behavior as long as you can before you must return home. See if, by the end of this chapter, you can identify not only the kind of bird it is you are studying, but perhaps each individual of that species that lives in your study site. For now, however, just remember to keep your awareness all around you as well as with those birds, as you become a bit acquainted with them.

____Return home and journal about your experience, using a Journaling Cover Page - Word Version (or Journaling Cover Page - Html Version or cover page of your own design, and supplement/replace it with the Wildlife Recording Form if you wish). Try to remember the distinguishing features of the bird you identified -- the features that stand out in your memory about how it looks and about its behavior. Also, note how the bird made you feel.

Field Exercise 8B – Learn Your Bird Voices

Suggested resource: Peterson's (Western or Eastern) Bird Songs -- the blue set has all the birds on it, and the red set is abbreviated but it has a great design for learning calls and songs. Also optional is a portable tape recorder to record the Voices of your bird.

____Bring along your water, first aid, sanitary supplies, and off you go.
____Enter your study site like last time, practicing your awareness and invisibility skills, but enter from a different direction while searching for that same bird.
____Observe your bird like yesterday, giving it every chance to exhibit normal behavior, but this time, imitate it. Yes, not only the songs and calls you hear it utter will you also have to figure out how to imitate, but also how it moves. Learning its "animal form" behavior is as critical to understanding its language as is its voice. For example, a bird may pump its tail, indicating the presence of danger below it. Birds, like mammals, have signals they use to communicate. Why, just yesterday I remember as I write this, the behavior of a Bobcat I treed after surprising it in a log pile. It kept closing its eyes lethargically, indicating that it meant no threat toward me, and so I did the same, and like two cats not wanting to fight, we sent each other signals of our intention, then parted ways.
____Take some time to see if you can hear as many of the Voices of your bird as possible. The Voices include:

o its Song, sung when everything is going fine, or to mark territory;
o its Alarm call(s), indicating possible danger;
o its Mating call, where two mates are checking in with one another to see if
the other is okay, usually as they feed a short distance from one
another.
o its Aggression call, usually males battling over territory;
o its Begging call, which chicks utter when mommy and daddy come home
with food;
o its other calls that you may pinpoint

____After spending a good amount of time practicing your bird's Animal Form, and imitating its calls and songs, head on home, still practicing its calls and songs, because you can't forget them. You'll need to imitate the bird for a friend in a later Field Exercise. Journal about your experience, using a Journaling Cover Page - Word Version (or Journaling Cover Page - Html Version or cover page of your own design, and supplement/replace it with the Wildlife Recording Form if you wish), and note the different Voices of the bird that you could distinguish, relating the sound to some phrase or rhythm you think of. For example, the Killdeer is named as such because some guy related its call to that word, "kill-deer, kill-deer, kill-deer." If you have the means, record your imitation of your bird on a cassette along with the story about how you discovered it and what you observed it doing. Journal very briefly your study site experience, the weather, animals and plants you witnessed.

Field Exercise 8C – Bird Tracking, Sketching & Journaling

Complete the following information for your bird:

Name of Bird ________________________ (if known)

Tracker Name ________________________________________

Date ___________________

Art of Symbiosis (The Why of Tracking)

What effect do people have on the bird you are tracking today?



What effect does the consistency of the earth have on the bird today?



What effect does the flow of water have on the bird wildlife today?



What effect do the small plants have on the bird you are tracking today?



What effect do any mammals you know are there have on the bird today?



What effect do the tall shrubs and trees have on the bird today?



How do other birds you have seen effect your bird today?



What effect does the weather and geologic location have on your bird today?



Based on your knowledge of the area, which birds, including yours, might be in the area, and why?




Art of Trailing (The Where of Tracking)

First, make a map on one side of a blank piece of paper, of the area where you are tracking.

Detail the travels of this bird you are tracking on your study site map.




Describe the track and sign markings at points you find significant, and mark them on your map.




Describe where your bird may have come from when you began observing it, and where it might have gone afterwards. Indicate it on your map.





Art of Interpretation (The What of Tracking)

Describe any feeding, mating, perching, soaring, traveling, sleeping, or other behaviors you observed this bird do that seemed to be its normal pattern of daily life.



Describe any behavior that was out of the ordinary for this bird, for any reason, such as danger.



What does it seem this animal might have been eating or gathering or otherwise primarily occupied doing?



Does the animal seem to be in good shape, injured, or anxious?



How did the weather and season effect this bird?



Describe what you think the animal was doing and feeling as you observed it? Use your map to indicate significant events at significant locations.





Art of Timing (The When of Tracking)


When did you observe this bird singing is melodic song?



When did this bird sing or call in relation to other birds?



When did you observe this bird feeding?



When did you observe this bird in its nest?



Describe and document the time you saw this bird do other significant behaviors.



Considering your knowledge of the weather and season, what times of day, and in which seasons, does this bird display distinguishing behavior - behavior that makes it unique?



Art of Identification (The Who of Tracking)

Sketch any track or sign you found in detail on the back side of your map. Use your field guide as examples of how to sketch tracks and sign.


Size:

Front print length__________Front print width _________

Rear print length__________Rear print width_________

Sign type and length ____________________________________

Sign type & width_______________________________________

Gait:

Number of measurements taken between prints ____________

Average distance between prints when in harmonic gait _________

Average distance between prints when running ___________

Average distance between prints when going slow ___________

Average distance between prints when landing ___________

Type of sign and distance between sets ______________________________


Straddle:

Average width of the trail (furthest print points left and right) ________

Where was the track or sign in relation to trails, roads, and edges of water, fields, and forested areas? Was it in the middle of a trail, at a crossroads, buried, etc.?



Does it display behavior or an older, adult, or young bird? Explain.



Which sex is this bird and how did you come to your conclusion?



Is this bird carrying eggs or have any physical abnormalities? Explain.



Family of Animal (Taxometric Classification) __________________ Fairly certain?

Genus _________ Species _________ Common Name ____________ Fairly certain?

General Comments

Describe the event you tracked in general.




Why do you believe your conclusions to be true?




What have you learned about the bird?




What questions do you still have?




What feelings or sensations do you have regarding the bird?




What else would you add?



Sketching & Journaling Birds


Suggested resources: Golden Guide's A Guide to Field Identification: Birds of North America; Sibly's Guide to Bird Behavior; The Birder's Handbook; Peterson's Western Bird Nests, Peterson's Bird Eggs, all depending on how in-depth you wish to study.

Remember, these are priorities for your sketchings in order of importance:

• Just doing a sketch, is more important than ...
• Labeling every part of the specimen, is more important than ...
• Drawing organically following how the specimen grew, is more important than ...
• Sketching specimen parts in the correct proportions, is more important than ...
• Making it lovely.

Also remember, do not erase what you've done at any point. If you want to re-sketch it to make it look presentable, that's fine. If you don't erase your work, but instead repeat this procedure over and over for each subsequent species, you will improve considerably as an artist.

Take a look at your specimen in a variety of field guides. Notice all its body parts, colors, and patterns. Put your drawing paper on a flat surface with nothing to encumber you from sketching. Take out only the colored pencils you know you will need, often just one color. Sharpen your chosen pencil if necessary.

Take away your book and the specimen itself if you have it there, then imagine:
a. Close your eyes and picture the seed or beginnings of the specimen.
b. In your "mind's eye", watch its mother birth it into the world.
c. Watch it unfold its limbs, eyes, and mouth, uttering its first cry.
d. Watch it grow into the full shape of its species.
e. Watch it play through its next seasons, growing as large as parents.
g. Picture it standing tall, fully grown, ready to make more offspring.
h. Remember, like all things, it will deteriorate and die, but before it
does, you are going to sketch it, so open your eyes.

Put your pencil on the paper at the very center of gravity of the animal. Watch your hand draw the animal's insides, then its skin and fir. Remember that it didn't grow from the outside in. Instead, draw out from the center, and don't outline yet. Watch your hand grow its limbs and head, from the inside out along its skeleton and veins.

Watch your hand make the final details, including sense organs. Add some shading at this point, instead of outlines, for a more natural look. Take a look at your specimen in the book to review its parts, and its patterns of growth to correct any inconsistencies. Remember, though, your specimen will normally look different from the one in the book, because there are so many individuals of that species, and probably many varieties and sub-species, which look different at various stages of development, including things like color & texture.

Label your sketch at the top, and list the resource materials you used at the bottom. Finally, draw some habitat around the specimen, such as plants that live symbiotically with it. Write in the "scale", or how large it is in real life.

Now, using your field guides, follow the directions below to draw different parts of the animal in detail. Hopefully, your field guides will have pictures or drawings of the different parts of the animal, or perhaps you can find a carcass to draw its parts. Label each drawing and body part names, including at least:

____ Head markings
____ Wing markings
____ Tail markings
____ Skull
____ Skeleton
____ Talons
____ Tracks
____ Track patterns
____ Scat
____ Eggs
____ Nest
____ Map of its range.

Just sit and think about your animal now for a while and let your body relax before continuing with this journal entry.

On the page after your sketch, you'll be journaling general information about your bird, so make a title on that page. Also, as with every journal entry, write the date. Write in any other common names that people may call the animal. Next, begin listing information about the bird, following this order:

Latin Name (Genus & Species), Family, Order, Class, Phylum, Kingdom. Take a look at the information page on Taxonomy - Classifying Species in the Handbook for Students & Teachers to help understand this requirement. Most field guides will tell the Latin Name, and categorize them into their families. The kingdom of birds is animalia, the phylum is vertebrates, the order aves, but the class and family will vary. An encyclopedia might do the trick for youas well.

Habitat. Where it's found, such as forest, field, wetlands, etc. Note where you found your specimen.

Size: Note how big it gets, depending on location and compare to the specimen tracked.

General Description: Describe your sketch, such as what its texture is like at different parts of the animal, what colors the specimen contained, the best ways to positively identify it.

Nest: what it's made of, where it is placed, if it is hanging (pendent), and when it is used.

Eggs: Describe their size, shape, color, and how they are nurtured.

Describe how its young are created, born, and nurtured.

Habits: Include what aspects are similar to human traits and those of other animals; what the dangerous qualities might be if you encountered the animal; and what the animal's gift to the ecosystem, and directly or indirectly, to humans may be.

Go celebrate your super tracking and research work in the best way you know how to celebrate such an accomplishment. Whatever you choose, journal very briefly your experience, using a Journaling Cover Page - Word Version (or Journaling Cover Page - Html Version or cover page of your own design, and supplement/replace it with the Wildlife Recording Form if you wish).

Field Exercise 8D – Sharing Your Bird Voices

____This Field Exercise is a storytelling like in Chapter 7, but this time, don't take your audience (your friend or whoever you want to tell the story to) to your study site. Instead, you'll be telling the story inside or in your yard. If you feel like you haven't gotten a sense for this bird's behavior and vocalizations yet, just go back and repeat Field Exercise 6B, and stick with the same bird. If you are having a lot of difficulty, and you've discovered another bird that would be a lot easier to track, go ahead and switch to it, repeating Field Exercises 6B & 6C. But move along with this storytelling if you are ready, and reserve detailed tracking of other birds for your free time and those who choose a specialization in Language of the Birds. If you are ready, identify some person or people you want to be present for your story.

____Second, arrange a time to have them come hear your story.

____Prepare a story about the bird you tracked. Describe how you discovered it, when it was active, why it was there, what it was doing and where it was moving, and then give them identifying information about the bird, and have them guess who the bird it was. Prepare as much as you can, so that you are comfortable with your story, and so that you can answer as many questions as your audience may ask.

____Prepare to go to your study site as you normally do, and then practice telling the story to all the trees and animals at your Anchor Point. Lead them through the Voices of the Bird with the questions: Why might this bird be there? When might the bird have been there that left its mark? Where did the bird come from, where is it going, and where is it now? What was the bird doing where you are now tracking it? And who is this bird in detail? Take along a tape recorder if you have one, and try to tape the voices of the bird you are learning. If you can't, tape record yourself imitating the bird after you've returned home. Remember to journal very briefly your experience, using a Journaling Cover Page - Word Version (or Journaling Cover Page - Html Version or cover page of your own design, and supplement/replace it with the Wildlife Recording Form if you wish).

____Thank them and the players in your story, and head home.

____Meet with your audience at the arranged time, and tell them the story. Be sure to tape record your live storytelling if you can.

____Journal how you developed your story, and write about the reaction your audience had.

Chapter 8 Celebration

After you've read the introductory tracking stories and information, then done the 4 Field Exercises, read this page, follow its directions, and deliver the summary.

____Prepare to go to your study site as you normally do, and visit it with no agenda besides having an attitude of wandering, whether you remain in one spot or move around. Return home, fill out a Journaling Cover Page - Word Version or cover page of your own design, and complete this chapter summary.

____Complete a written Thanksgiving Address journal entry, adding the new category FUTURE GENERATIONS after the ancestors. Some say that the children yet to be born help to direct our lives so that we come together and create a world in which they can find what they need. The birds may be seen as helping us communicate with them, as they sing and cry out for attention. What are the birds saying to you about the future? Are they just telling you about what is going on in and around your study site? Are they telling you what the weather is about to do? Or are they singing the song of your grandchildren? So in a sentence or two, tell the story of the FUTURE GENERATIONS, for whom we may be doing this work, as we reflect on how our lives may effect them..

____Write a short description of your combined experiences at your study site during these Field Exercises. You may want to describe what feelings came up for you, fears, happiness, sadness, wonder, and more. Again mention where you may be on the path of initiation into nature, and if this reflection stirs anything in you, talk about it with your instructor.

____Set goals for yourself regarding Language of the Birds that you are confident you can achieve. What do you wish to learn, experience, gain from practicing this skill?

____Note in writing anything you liked, or saw needs editing, in this chapter of the Naturalist Mentoring curriculum

____Give the following written information to your instructor:

o Your written Thanksgiving Address
o Your journal entries from all the Field Exercises
o Your tape recording of Bird Language and storytelling in the 4th Field Exercise
o Your summary of experiences with this chapter (see above - feel free to edit)
o The written goals you have set for yourself
o Your written evaluation of this chapter

Capture The Flag - WOLF Rules

Now you're ready to win a game of Capture The Flag - WOLF Rules. Gather at least 4 people together, and find enough space to play the game where there are not any major hazards with which to contend. The purpose of the game is to capture the flag of the opposing team and bring it back into your own territory without being detected at all.

Good work! It's time to move on to the Introduction to Part Three - Trail of the Herbalist.

Wolf Journey is available complimentarily online, though we suggest donating $1.00 per chapter or set of recordings you utilize, with checks payable to Wolf Camp, 1026 14th St. SW, Puyallup WA 98371. Books and other resources which you will need for successful completion of field exercises throughout Wolf Journey can be purchased through Granny's Country Store or by calling them at 406-287-3605 to order. You can work through Wolf Journey independently, but we recommend this book series as part of our Correspondence Course, Academic Year Class Series, In-Depth Apprenticeships and Summer Training Camps, but if you would like an instructor from your own area to guide you while studying these skills, we recommend clicking on PrimitiveSkillsLinks.Com to find an earth skills specialist near you who can personally review your field exercises and journaling work, which you can keep track of on your Student Transcripts. Other schools and outdoor instructors who would like to use this curriculum for their own programs are free to do so. We would appreciate donations, or having your students donate as described above.