Monitoring Wildlife in Wild Times

By: Cholla Nicoll, BRN Wildlife Intern

​It seems that the only thing on everyone’s minds these days is a pesky little virus. Current events are not just overwhelming they are humbling in a tragic manner. With humility comes wisdom. Wisdom tells us to slow down, stop moving and remember what’s most important. It’s important to recognize we are a part of the animal community. Our shared biology means we are subject to the same struggles they face. In these times of climate change and disease the facade that humans are more powerful, or somehow separate from nature is rapidly dissipating. 

A hawk captured mid-flight by one of our wildlife cameras in the Borderlands Wildlife Preserve in Patagonia, AZ.

​The use of wildlife trail cameras allows us to glimpse into a world that few of us modern humans ever see. Our perception of who and what lives on a landscape can be dramatically off base as wildlife has adapted to avoid our presence. The Borderlands Wildlife Preserve provides a wonderful opportunity to view wildlife in a non-invasive manner using trail cameras. Trail cameras have been placed throughout the preserve and are now being used to collect data on what species frequent the area. In the near future many of these images will be utilized to educate the public on the importance of our animal neighbors.

Enjoying a day in the sun just being in nature.

​​In this time of social distancing it is more apparent than ever that we need to have meaningful relationships with the natural world, which we are very much a part of. For many of us a walk in nature or the companionship of a pet is what has gotten us through a very trying time.  For me checking the wildlife cameras has been a much needed break from the onslaught of painful news and isolation.

Since school is out, on one of these such days I allowed my 9 year-old daughter to join me. We climbed trees and talked to flowers and learned that sometimes the best days are not the days we see something extraordinary, but the days we have time to just be free. This freedom is the gift we give to our wildlife community each time we employ technologies enabling our choice to be unseen.