Becoming a Backyard Explorer
Like Duolingo, but for Becoming a Backyard Explorer. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Becoming a Backyard Explorer
- Increased stride length indicates a transition from walking to running
- Cats walk with retracted claws while dogs leave blunt nail marks
- Splayed toes or deep 'toe-digs' indicate the force of a high-speed push-off
- Feline heel pads have three lobes at the back (M-shape), while canines have two
- Movement and speed indicators
- Distinguishing canine from feline
- Deep impressions in the front of the track indicate acceleration or 'digging in'
- Even depth across the print suggests a calm, weight-distributed gait
- Distinguishing canine from feline prints based on claw marks and pad shape
- The relationship between an animal's weight/speed and the depth of the track
- Thick, damp wood provides the stable, cool temperatures needed for amphibian eggs
- Freshly excavated soil (tailings) at the entrance indicates recent digging
- Dry, elevated cavities are preferred for food storage to prevent rot
- The absence of spiderwebs or fallen leaves across the opening suggests frequent passage
- How log characteristics determine its function as a nursery or a pantry
- Identifying active occupancy in a burrow through external signs
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Becoming a Backyard Explorer the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
You find a clear paw print with no visible claw marks at all. Which animal likely left it?
Get it right to open this lesson and 25 more in the app.
Where Becoming a Backyard Explorer takes you
Stop just walking through nature and start seeing the hidden world right outside your door. Learn to spot secret animal signs, predict the weather, and understand the language of the trees.
- 1
Spot the Hidden Life Around You
- Reading the Ground for Animal Tracks
- Finding Homes in Hollow Logs and Burrows
- Identifying Birds by Their Flight Patterns
- The Secret Clues Left on Tree Bark
- 2
Predict the Wild World
- Using Clouds to Tell the Weather
- Why Flowers Close Before the Rain
- Telling Time by the Position of the Sun
- How Wind Direction Changes Your Hike
- Finding North Without a Compass
- What Cricket Chirps Tell You About Temperature
- 3
The Deep Magic of Ecosystems
- How Trees Talk to Each Other Underground
- The Important Job of Decomposers
- Why Every Backyard Needs a Predator
3 sections · 13 units · 26 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Becoming a Backyard Explorer is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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The Four-Season Flowerbed
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The Secret Life of Birds
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Homesteading for Self-Sufficiency
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The Purpose of Tails
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Start Becoming a Backyard Explorer today.
Download Tomo, search Becoming a Backyard Explorer, and play your first lesson in under a minute.