Herp Tracking Book Progress Report

[PNWHerper]

Here is some herp tracking photos that might to help get you through another winter day... Hope all of you have a great solstice and holiday season!

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle making a beautiful trail in to the Pacific.



The remains of a long-dead Desert Tortoise.



Gopher Tort detail.

[dery]

I'm still paying attention and hope to improve my skills and data gathering gathering in this respect.

I'd love to get my hands on a herp tracking book. When will yours be out?

[PNWHerper]

Dery,

Publishing date will be late in 2014. It will be the first book out there of its kinds.

I have recently seen other books including some very limited sections on herp tracks. Most recently, a book from the California Natural History Series: http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Tracks-Cal ... rk+elbroch

Two of the authors of that book have contributed photos to the herp tracking book I am working on currently. And Mark Elbroch was the one who first put the idea in the my head to take this on.

The section on herps in the book in the link above is small, but interesting. There are also sketches of different herp tracks scattered throughout the book. Its worth a look, and is a great book for those in California!

[dery]

Will it be limited stock, or continuously published?

[PNWHerper]

Hopefully, it will be continuously published for some time. I will definitely announce it here when it is ready to be picked up.

[PNWHerper]

Here is another great audio program that talks about using tracking for conservation. Worth the listen:

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/201 ... 805282.htm

[Nightsnakeman]

This sounds like a great project. Are you needing range maps or species accounts for the book? I'm mainly into Plethodontid salamanders, but I enjoy all species of herp. Will you be needing information down to the subspecies level? I know some good localities with relatively uncommon species where you can easily get great tracks. PM me.

Nightsnakeman

[PNWHerper]

Thank you, nightsnakeman! I PMed you and would love to chat about more details.

Yes, range maps are going to be needed. I haven't started collecting them yet, and would love advice on range maps.

Thanks for your interest in the project. We could always use more advice!

[PNWHerper]

Here is a fun update on one species I have been pursuing for some time. There is a photo of a track in there, too:

http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... =8&t=15158

[Rich in Reptiles]

This is so awesome! Now I am really looking foward to when the book comes out. I've always been interested in animal tracks/signs. I love "preserving" them with plaster of paris when i can. Are you still interested in pictures of tracks? I have two pictures of snapping turtle tracks- one adult set, and a hatchling set.

[PNWHerper]

Rich in Reptiles,

Glad you are into wildlife tracking! I think that tracking and herping are great complementary skills.

Yes, I still welcome photos of herp tracks of any kind. There are many species from the East Coast and the SE that I did not get tracks for. So, I am pretty dependent on help from herpers from those regions. My personal visits out that way were limited mostly to FL. My co-author traveled mostly to New England area.

There are still many species we have no data for...

You can email them to : [email protected]

Thank you!

[PNWHerper]

Hello all!

I have been mostly lurking lately, as I have had no time to herp and even little time to reply to all the cool posts. I have been fully in the throes of writing. I am in the final few months now, and have to focus my energies more fully on the task at hand. To any and all of you who I may have been out of touch with, I apologize. Travis, I am sorry I have not gotten back to you buddy. Its gonna be a very focus next couple of months and will be a bit of hermit as I write as much as possible. Bare with me!

The book is coming together well, and I have been sending out requests to some of the people I know to help me with bright ideas for certain specific details of the book, for further photos and for editing help. I also started a facebook tracking club related to the topic of the book where I have been posing various questions and sharing some of my various finds throughout the 3 years of field work.

If you are interested in joining the club you are welcome to do so, its called the "Tracks & Sign of Reptiles and Amphibians." I know not everyone here is into facebook, but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

Also, anyone out there still interested in contributing photos of any kind of reptiles or amphibian tracks, scat, sheds, trails, lays, feeding sign, etc. please let me know! There are still many species I have little or no data for, so please let me know if you want to add something.

I will resurface in a bit.

Happy Herping!

- Fil

[PNWHerper]

Alright friends and fellow herpers,

I have entered the final hour of the Herp Tracking Book. I have only a few weeks left now, and I have to send everything in to my publisher on Sept. 1! Its exciting and nerve-wracking.

Thank you to everyone for your interest and support.

If there is anything you wanted to send me, such as photos or a shed, this is the final 3 weeks!

I will let everyone know when the book comes out in a few months.

[justinm]

Great stuff, you've been on this for a long time. Of course after so long a wait, the expectations are high! How many pages do you have it set for so far? How many pictures? Is it in color?

[PNWHerper]

Justinm,

I hope I can meet the high expectations! Its been 3 long, hard years and I am nearly done... woah, what a ride!

I don't know exactly how many pages, as the formatting may change it a bit, but its going to be close to 150,000 words, 450 color photos, and 150 pen and ink drawings (including some basic range maps for the species accounts). Its going to be a pretty good sized book with loads of info and I hope I inspire a lot of people. Some of the contributors are from this forum. I am still trying to get a few more species to include in there, mostly via sheds. Excited to see what folks here think of the finished work.

[The Real Snake Man]

I seriously cannot wait for this book. Hope it doesn't break the bank, but with all the work you've put in, it would certainly be worth it!

-Gene

[PNWHerper]

Snake Man,

I am very excited to see it come out as well. It is now in the hands of the publishers, and production is underway. My work is mostly done... still some minor editting to do to the draft when its sent to me.

I did not set the price tag, but I believe its around 30 bucks or so. Its going to be a thick book, and I hope it inspires many to practice these awesome field skills.

[simus343]

I can't wait to see this book come out and get my hands on it. At work we set up drift fences for Gopherus polyphemus relocation. These fences have no water within them except during and immediately following very heavy rains. The snakes in them have little access to water, and though they can last a good while, it takes about 8-14 months, before snakes start turning up dehydrated and/or dead at the fence. We see snake tracks all the time and I think it would be very useful to have a book such as the one you have been working on in my backpack to refer back to, while in the field, on how to follow snake tracks in the proper direction. me and my very good friend that I work with have been speculating and trying to analyze the tracks of our own pet snakes for about 2 years now to attempt to get an insight on how to track snake trails. It would be nice to save some of these snakes such as baby Scarlet Snakes and baby Garter Snakes before they dry up. It would also be nice for tracking those really big snake tracks in the fences .

I will be monitoring this very closely for a release date on this book !

[The Real Snake Man]

Snake Man,

I am very excited to see it come out as well. It is now in the hands of the publishers, and production is underway. My work is mostly done... still some minor editting to do to the draft when its sent to me.

I did not set the price tag, but I believe its around 30 bucks or so. Its going to be a thick book, and I hope it inspires many to practice these awesome field skills.

$30? Awesome, that's nothing! I mean really, I've been trying to catch up on all the best herp literature, and I've become accustomed to dishing out close to or well over $100 for some of them (a nice copy of Snakes and Snake Hunting, Grismer's Baja guide, Savage's Costa Rica guide [hard-cover], Venomous Snakes of the Western Hemisphere, Klauber's Rattlesnake book, Losos' Anole book [hard-cover], Dodd's 2-volume frog book, Ernst and Ernst's Venomous Reptiles of the US, Canada, and Northern Mexico, etc.). That price sounds like a breath of fresh air.

[The Real Snake Man]

Looks like it's shown up for pre-order on Amazon, guys. $40 or so, and it will ship in October. Super excited, and super thankful for all of Filip's work!

-Gene

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0811711862/ref ... VG559605W9

[SurfinHerp]

Snake Man Gene - thanks for the update and for sharing the link! I went ahead and placed my order today.

Looking forward to getting my copy signed by the author one of these days...

Jeff

[PNWHerper]

Thanks, everyone! I am at the moment working on the page proofs and am so, so excited to see the book out in October!

I hope you guys enjoy it and use it in the field. Thank you Gene for sharing the Amazon.com page.

[PNWHerper]

Hey friends,

Check out this blogtalk radio podcast I did about my book and about tracking. It will give you a good sense of what I cover in the book and how.

I think one of the few mistakes I made was saying there are 3 tortoise species, instead of 4 during the interview. But, I hope you can look past minor things like that

Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weaselbear ... ip-tkaczyk

[Rich in Reptiles]

Woot woot! I'm really looking forward to finally getting the book! The podcast was great, thanks for sharing .

[Fieldnotes]

WoW, that looks like a great book. Fantastic pictures.

I listened to the 'Tracking Radio' that was very informative. I never knew about the Hern / deformed frog link, thats very interesting. I'm going to keep listening.

[PNWHerper]

The book is out!!

Please check it out and help support me and the skills of wildlife tracking!

If you can, support your local bookstores and buy from them. If they don't have it, ask them to order them. If you are unable to, then go with Amazon as a last resort.

I look forward to hearing peoples stories when they get a chance to use it.

Fil

[JAMAUGHN]

Ordered! Can't wait to see the book...congrats, Fil!

Two other options for anyone who doesn't want to go through Amazon, but doesn't have a local bookstore to go through:

The book can be ordered through the venerable Portland independent, Powells, or directly from Stackpole Books. I just did the latter, though I'll probably also get one at Bookshop Santa Cruz to donate to my College Library.

JimM

[SurfinHerp]

Got my first copy in the mail yesterday!

I thought I was a decent herp tracker, but after browsing through a few pages of the book, I can see I have a lot left to learn. Looking forward to reading it from cover to cover.

Congrats on completing the project and getting it published Fil!!

Jeff

[Ribbit]

Ordered! Can't wait to see the book...congrats, Fil!

Two other options for anyone who doesn't want to go through Amazon, but doesn't have a local bookstore to go through:

The book can be ordered through the venerable Portland independent, Powells, or directly from Stackpole Books. I just did the latter, though I'll probably also get one at Bookshop Santa Cruz to donate to my College Library.

JimM

Jim, you are an inspiration. First, Powell's and Bookshop Santa Cruz are both awesome and deserve our business, and second, buying a copy to donate to your college library which otherwise would probably not be able to spend its (no-doubt, aren't they all?) limited budget on a valuable specialty item like this. My hat is off to you (I'm suspecting yours is currently on).

John