Wildlife observation is the practice of noting the occurrence or abundance of animal species at a specific location and time, either for research purposes or recreation. Common examples of this type of activity are bird watching and whale watching.
The process of scientific wildlife observation includes the reporting of what (diagnosis of the species), where (geographical location), when (date and time), who (details about observer), and why (reason for observation, or explanations for occurrence). Wildlife observation can be performed if the animals are alive, with the most notable example being face-to-face observation and live cameras, or are dead, with the primary example being the notifying of where roadkill has occurred. This outlines the basic information needed to collect data for a wildlife observation; which can also contribute to scientific investigations of distribution, habitat relations, trends, and movement of wildlife species.
