San Diego CA Specialist Certification 11/12/2020

Bob Ollerton hosted a Track and Sign Specialist Certification in San Diego County on November 11-12, 2020. Specialist Certifications are arduous. Participants must answer 57 very difficult questions over 2 days. Two evaluators (1 local and 1 external) are present at Specialist Certifications to ensure reliability and consistency. Casey McFarland served as external evaluator and Daniel Hansche assisted as an evaluator-in-training.

It was a great couple of days. Many of us were camping at the Lake Jennings Campground which facilitated some great after-hours discussions. Covid-19 safety was a top priority and everyone did a great job maintaining proper distance and wearing face masks. We had some very challenging tracks including owl scat, a shrew skull, tiny kangaroo rat scratch marks and many many more. All told, we saw the tracks of 31 species, including 16 mammals, 8 birds, 1 helps, 3 invertebrate, and tracks from a walking stick, marks from ice freezing in a puddle, and scratches from wind blowing a branch. See the photos below.

Huge congratulations are in order for Bob Ollerton for earning his Track and Sign Specialist Certificate. He didn’t miss a single question! This is the culmination of many years of dedication and study. Though when I congratulated him for the hard work, his response was that it’s never been “work.”

Big thanks to Bob and Dick for volunteering to help out and to Casey McFarland and Daniel Hansche for co-instructing.