Non-Animal Options

Empty

As the cameras we use are triggered by motion, they sometimes take photos when there is no animal present in the frame. Whether it was a tall piece of grass that triggered the camera or a soccer ball kicked into the frame or an animal that just walked out of frame, the photo should be tagged as empty if there is no wildlife species or human present in the photo. Black or hazy phots might be taken during setup, those pictures should also be marked as “empty”.

Unknown

It is very important that we identify each animal in our photos, but there are times when it is not possible to identify the exact species present in the photo, whether it is because the animal is moving too fast and is too blurry or only a small part of the animal is showing or there is only a pair of glowing eyes with no other identifying characteristics (see tips for glowing eyes). Do your best to narrow down your options and look for all identifying characteristics to determine the species, and please consult with STL Wildlife Project staff to get a second opinion, but if you are still unable to identify the animal, please mark the animal as unknown, and enter your best guess(es) in the comments.

Human + “mower”

Mowing the lawn is a type of disturbance that may impact how wildlife use our sites, thus we want to be able to measure how much disturbance there is at a site due to lawn mowers. Please tag a photo with human and then “mower” in the details if a mower is present. Other landscaping tools may be disturbing (e.g., leaf blower, weed whacker) and they can be recorded as “mowers” in the details for the human species tag for simplicity.

Vehicles

Anything with 4 wheels such as golf carts, ATVs, etc. should be broadly categorized as “Vehicle”. Any mowing device such as weed whackers, mowers should be tagged as “mower” in the details sections. Enter the species as human and the details as “mower”.