I'm really excited to see the North American Animal Tracking Database continue to grow. I'm also excited to see the contributions of some excellent trackers.

Take a look at our leaderboard to see who's been contributing: http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/north-american-animal-tracking-database/contributors?sort=contest

Thanks to the following folks for leading the way...

Chris Hass (107 observations of 45 taxa)
Rob Speiden (83 observations of 39 taxa)
Kim Cabera (77 observations of 31 taxa)
Filip Tkaczyk (26 observations of 23 taxa)

As of today (Aug 31, 2013) we have 579 observations of 217 different taxa. This included 104 mammals, 55 birds, 30 insects, 18 herps, 4 arachnids, and several other groups.

Please remember to add accuracy to your observations if at all possible. This lets us know how the data can be used in future analyses and greatly improves the value of your observations.

As our database continues to grow, we are seeing more and more photos of tracks and sign. Some of the photos allow for very easy identification while others are much more difficult.

Here are a few tips on taking photos of tracks that will help make it easy for others to identify them later.

1) Include a scale. Please whenever possible include a ruler in the photo. If you don't have a ruler, use a penny or other coin. Pocket knives come in many sizes and are of little use as a scale.

2) Shade the track. In bright light, your photos will often look much better if the track is shaded. This also eliminates dark shadows that can distort the track. 95% of the track photos I take are shaded.

3) Take a close up and a contextual photo. Take a good close up photo of the track as well as a photo from a little ways back that includes the gait pattern and other associated tracks. A photo of the general area that shows the habitat can also be helpful.

Keep up the great work everyone. The database is now over 700 observations and is becoming an amazing resource.

The North American Animal Tracking Database has grown to over 1000 observations of tracks, sign, eggs, feathers, scat, and other wildlife sign! There are also some truly skilled trackers helping identify tracks, contribute observations, and keep the database accurate.

Currently the database contains:

62% Mammals
20% Birds
9% Invertebrates
6% Herps

78% Have a Curator ID
77% are Research Grade Observations