This week, I didn’t go to my usual spot looking for wildlife signs, but instead kept an eye out for them on my everyday walks across campus and throughout Burlington. I didn’t find a ton of wildlife, but I was sure to record what I did find on iNaturalist. My first wildlife encounter was on Tuesday right outside my dorm building on athletic campus as I was returning from my morning class. I saw a squirrel run up to a tree and climb it, which doesn’t seem significant at all, but it was special to me because I got to see the squirrel leave a perfect trail of tracks firsthand.

The next day I had another wildlife sighting in the evening while I was in downtown Burlington. I looked up at the sky and saw a TON of black birds flying together, but not in a specific pattern. I believe they were crows because crows tend to fly in large groups, called murders, in the winter and they looked to be about the size of crows. I can’t be too sure since they were quite far and I wasn’t wearing my contacts, but I tentatively ID’ed them as crows on iNaturalist.

My final significant wildlife sighting was on Friday when I walked to Redstone campus looking for another sign of wildlife. I was looking at what I thought might’ve been a track in the snow (it was likely just an indent where snow had fallen) and discovered something else that I would’ve otherwise missed: snow fleas! Technically called springtails on the iNaturalist app, I was surprised to learn snow fleas aren’t actually fleas or even insects but rather arthropods.

Although I didn’t go out on a hike in the woods looking for wildlife as usual, I was still able to see wild animals on my regular, everyday excursions in Burlington. I really enjoyed using iNaturalist to record my sightings as well as check out what others have spotted nearby. This experience has taught me to keep an eye out for wildlife when I’m least expecting it as well as to use iNaturalist more often.