with D'Arcy HuttonLocation: Rockcliffe Park (off Rockcliffe Parkway)
Meeting Spot: Stone Pavilion by the First Parking Lot
OC Transpo: Bus # 1 (Maple Lane Stop) and Bus # 9 (Sussex Drive Stop)
Tour Summary: An afternoon of looking into the habits, rituals and strategies of Ottawa's non-human populations. Tracking allows us to slip on bandit masks and lumber along streambeds, carpet the ground with spruce twigs, and leave a trail of broken heart-shaped tracks across the landscape.
** Please dress for the weather and wear sturdy footwear (no sandals). There is some rough, steep terrain. There is broken glass in areas.
Recommended reading at bottom of page.
Tour Guide Bio:D'Arcy Hutton has been studying nature and dabbling in primitive skills since January of 2009 when she went to live at Hawk Circle Wilderness School in New York State. She also participated in the Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship at White Pine Programs in Southern Maine. She has worked at Toronto's P.I.N.E. Project, a non-profit that works with kids in urban greenspace in a muddy, tree-climbing, fort-making, field guide reading, old-fashioned puddle splashing way.
Currently she resides in Farrellton, Quebec and is pursuing a Specialist Certification with Cybertracker International.
For all those who are curious about tracking, D’Arcy has generously supplied a list of books and resources which are listed below as well as her contact information.
Books and resources:
Mammal Track and Sign, Mark Elbroch
Bird Track and Sign, Mark Elbroch
Invertebrate Track and Sign, Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney
Reading the Forested Landscape, Tom Wessels
Practical Tracking, Louis Liebenberg
Recommended field guides:
The Peterson's and Sibley's field guide series
Audio tapes:
Seeing through Native Eyes
Advanced Bird Language
both by Jon Young and available from Wilderness Awareness School at http://www.wildernessawareness.org.
Through Wilderness Awareness you can also purchase the Kamana Program, which is a well-established, superbly designed home study training course for naturalists (http://www.wildernessawareness.org).
To contact D'Arcy for guided nature walks, tracking training and children's programming, please email densefoliage@yahoo.ca
