Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains, 2nd

I purchased these books to use in an outdoor field workshop for science teachers in Colorado. The books are great and the teachers really appreciated them.

This small field guide supposedly covers from Colorado/Utah north to the Canadian border, but many of the animals illustrated also range into the Pacific Northwest, western Canada and California, so this book is useful for most of western North America. There are two pages for each of the 70 mammals, birds and reptile/amphibians. Every animal has a small-scale range map, overall sketch, sketch of its droppings, large sketch of forward and rear footprints and a sketch of the pattern left by several footprints. I found the latter especially useful since many times the individual tracks are not too clear, especially in sand or dry snow, but the track pattern provides a positive identification. This lightweight, pocket-sized format makes it convenient to carry. Highly recommended for hikers, campers and nature buffs.

Winner of a 1999 National Outdoor Book Award, this small guide contains a wealth of information.As an environmental educator who has been teaching tracking classes for over 15 years, this is the book I now use for all of my classes. Page for page, "Scats and Tracks" is the most useful and useable resource for track identification in the field that I have found. Packed with information that is useful to both the novice and the more experienced tracker, "Scats and Tracks" is the easiest of the various guides for beginners to use, yet contains enough information to remain relevant as one's skills improve.The quality of its contents make the book an invaluable resource; its size, format, and organization make it easy to understand and use effectively. If you're going to buy just one of the many books now available on track identification, "Scats and Tracks" should be the one!