Wildlife observation is the practice of noting the occurrence or abundance of a dead or living animal
species at a specific place and time. One example of such an activity is
birding. Intrinsic to the process of scientific wildlife observation is 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). This rubric describes the basic information for an observation to become data about wildlife and to contribute to scientific investigations of distribution, habitat relations, trends, and movement of wildlife species.