The article was published in a recent edition of Wildlife in North Carolina.
Greg Hlavaty, lecturer in English, published an article, “Candid Critters, Captured Moments” in Wildlife in North Carolina (September-October 2018).
The article recounts Hlavaty’s efforts to involve his family in the Candid Critters program, a citizen-science camera trap initiative that is a collaboration between the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. State University, and various museums and libraries.
In the article, Hlavaty relates the difficulty, and the surprising satisfaction, of doing amateur wildlife science: “I felt stupid and angry with myself, so not like a real scientist. Luckily, the key was still there, and after retrieving it, Rowan and Sylvan went to the river to shoot their new slingshots. My wife pointed out targets and the boys fired hickory nuts and small stones. They seldom hit the target, but the simple act of aiming showed us the water’s movement, and scouring the ground for slingshot ammo alerted us to deer tracks and squirrel sign. As others hurried by us, we lingered at water’s edge, and I began to relax, the anger at my losing the key fading.
Watching the river break around a rock, I thought that maybe the best part about Candid Critters, or any citizen science program, was moments like this one, where what you find is less important than the fact that you’re out in the field looking for…well, whatever happens.”