Sweep your vision from side to side and include what is going to be under your feet as you go.

Walk forward, not backward. If you missed a better view a few steps back, turn around and walk forward so you always know where you are putting your feet, then stop, turn and look toward your subject.

Do not use your hand to lift up the overhanging edges of a plant to see what may be under it. Use something like a walking stick to lift the edges.

Do not step over a boulder, shrub, log or large refuse, walk around these things. On the other side there may be a tortoise burrow or other animal burrow, a snake taking cover, a small tortoise or a ground nesting bird. There may be a bird nesting in the shrub. Also, when there is dense growth of low plants, seeing hatchlings is harder so take extra care. They often bask just at the edge of the plant overhang.

If you see a tortoise, stop and advance slowly. Some are very shy, others, not. If you get too close the tortoise may stop what it is doing and pull in and may stay there for 2 hours. Then there will be nothing to watch. Very often, a tortoise will see you before you see it and it will have stopped and be watching you.

If you are too close the tortoise may void, losing valuable bladder water that is needed for the months ahead. The tortoise may not drink until July. If it rained in winter, the tortoise was asleep and could not take advantage of the rain.

If you come close to a tortoise without realizing it, you may hear it hiss. A defensive response as it quickly pulls in all its extremities and the air is forced out the nose. If you move away it may return to what it was doing.

Do not touch any of the tortoises. Do not touch remains. They may be part of study and are not to be collected, regardless.

Leave the plants to be eaten by the tortoises and other wildlife. If not eaten, the seeds are needed to germinate in another year. You may collect a specimen if you want it identified by a knowledgeable person. Do not move rock. It takes years to develop the microhabit for minute wildlife under it.

Along with looking for tortoises keep a sharp eye for tortoise sign: burrows, scats (droppings), tracks, drinking depressions, and places where a tortoise has eaten from a cactus pad. You may find tortoise remains, eggshell fragments from a hatching or predation. Leave these things undisturbed.

Take a litter bag and collect balloon fragments, ribbons, plastic, glass, paper refuse—large and small-- that you have room to carry. Veterinarians tell us that wildlife of all kinds eat some of these things and die as a result.

Take water with you, it may not help you if left in the vehicle. Other important things include a hat, long pants, sturdy shoes, or boots, clothing in layers, sunscreen, sunglasses, camera, binoculars, walking stick, cell phone, trash bag, and something for taking notes. Tell a friend or family member where you are going.

Stay on established roads and park no more than a vehicle width from the road edge. Look under your vehicle before you drive off. A tortoise may be there.

If you see a tortoise crossing a road through undeveloped desert and it is safe to stop, you may help it across the road in the direction it was heading. In town collect a wandering tortoise and call 593-9027. You must turn it in.

Betty Burge, Tortoise Group, 5/05