Goat-watch at Áak’w Kwáan Sít’i (Áak’w people’s glacier)
20201203: Every other Friday, Discovery staff get together for a ‘distanced’ outing. Usually it’s somewhere of particular interest to one of our naturalists, and often there’s a theme (decomposition, tracking, etc). Yesterday, one goal was to find out what’s up with Jánwu, mountain goat, motivated in part by interest from Valley-school teachers in educational potential of these amazing creatures, hopefully including direct observation. Our destination was Nugget Falls (no Lingít name?), just a short walk from the Visitor Center. For several reasons, this is one of the best locations for goat-watching. I’ve summarized with two pages from a journal on goat observations, mostly from my downtown home, downloadable below.
Several considerations in goatwatch:
● How reliable are they at your field destination? For teachers this is a tough one, because outings are scheduled well in advance. Canceling is always an option, but the reverse—spur-of-moment departure on a ‘hot-tip’ from field scouts—is generally not. Especially for middle and high schools where students move from teacher to teacher through the day. For a Nugget Falls trip, it might be possible to call the Visitor Center or Discovery Bookstore an hour beforehand and ask if any goats are visible in their spotscopes.
● How far away? Distance is good in one respect; the farther away, the less likely your attention will disturb them. But distance requires good optics. Owners of really good scopes are understandably reluctant to lend them to excited, not always well-prepped school outings. (Bob Armstrong points out that powerful telephoto cameras, cheaper than high-end spotscopes, are also better for sharing in the time of covid. Livestream video can be watched at safe distance on the cameraback viewfinder, rather than pressing eyes to a spotscope.)
● Will you displace them? For ethical wildlife viewing—especially when modeling respect for students—this is always the first question. Harder to assess is stress. Outwardly relaxed animals may actually be quite upset, and Jánwu is the doyen of stoicism. Ideally, we observe in settings conducive to neutral habituation. (See distinction between habituation and conditioning, in reference to bears.) One of the best features of Nugget Falls is that habituated goats seem to realize they’re safe from people and dogs on the delta below.
● Maintaining team focus While good, tripod-stabilized optics will always be a bottleneck for larger student groups, there are plenty of tasks to keep a field team busy. Goats can be spotted a mile away through handheld binoculars. Don’t stop with one sweep, because goats in cover may move into view later. At a thousand feet or less, you can make size estimates, and certainly take behavior notes. Field sketching is a great way to train the art of noticing. Encourage drawing not only goat features but behaviors, and habitats.
Download today’s journal here (1.5MB): 
