Use your Careful Paws to identify, explore, and record your backyard discoveries!
Grandma says every backyard has a whole wild neighborhood hiding in plain sight. Tootie wants to rush over and say hello. Yoshi reminds him to slow down first.
Use your Careful Paws to look, listen, and notice who lives near the shrubs, pecan trees, garden, back fence, and creek behind Grandma's yard.
You do not have to know an animal's name right away. Start with a good question.
What do you notice first?
Grandma says good wildlife watchers do not rush in like a dropped biscuit. They let their eyes and ears do the first work. Tootie is still practicing this part.
Stop where you are. Scan the whole area before you take another step. Look high in the pecan trees, low near the shrubs, along the sunny fence, and at the ground by your shoes.
Stand still for one quiet minute. Listen for Carol near the porch, Chirp after rain, leaves scratching together, or a squirrel fussing over pecans.
Take small, quiet steps. Slow feet give you time to spot tracks, feathers, shed skin, little holes, and tiny insects working near the ground.
Look with your eyes, not your hands. Wild animals may bite, sting, scratch, or carry germs. Nests, eggs, feathers, and baby animals stay where they are.
Draw what you saw. Write the date. Add the weather. Mark where you found it. A crooked drawing can still help you remember what made a new neighbor different.
Take home photographs, drawings, and stories. Leave wild animals, plants, rocks, nests, eggs, and hiding places where they belong.
Did you see feathers, scales, hopping legs, tiny wings, or a fuzzy tail? Pick the closest clue, and Tootie will help you meet some likely backyard neighbors.
Compare what you saw to familiar backyard sizes. This is a clue, not a ruler.
Some Friends have calls to hear. Listen once, then step outside and listen for your own clues.
Sound recordings will appear here as Friends add them.
Animals use the same yard at different hours. These are clues, not a schedule for going out alone.
Different friends use Grandma's yard in different seasons. Choose a season, then decide whether this is a time to look, listen, wait, or notice.
Spring
Look for Carol the Carolina Wren singing near the porch. After rain, listen for Chirp the Cricket Frog near damp ground or the creek edge. Pause for one whole minute and count the sounds you hear.
Summer
Look for Gee the Green Anole on the fence, Helen near flowers, and dragonflies above the garden. Stand still and watch how each one uses sunshine differently.
Fall
Look for Rumpy the Yellow-rumped Warbler, migrating sparrows, and squirrels gathering food. Notice what has changed in the pecan trees and on the ground.
Winter
Look for Tuffy, Whitney the White-throated Sparrow, Ruby the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and tracks in soft mud. Winter asks patient watchers to look twice.
Grandma says each backyard place has its own neighbors. Start where you are, then use the habitat buttons to see who may be nearby.
Glaucomys volans
Poecile carolinensis
Apis mellifera
Ardea alba
Strix varia
Setophaga pinus
Odocoileus virginianus
Baeolophus bicolor
Grandma keeps one by the back door because she says a good question is worth saving. Draw what you saw, write the weather, mark where you found it, and leave room for the part you still do not know.
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