backyard scientists

Thanks to another blog, I discovered this article on the so-called citizen science movement.

Isn't this what I'm doing blogging and faithfully going out in the late hours of the night every 2 weeks to look for grunions? My grunion greeting postings are more detailed than the others, b/c Dr. Martin knows she can find additional information on my blog if she has any questions about my online data submissions.

It's been a while since I published a handful of papers on Northeast Ohio moths. However, life stepped in and I got sidetracked along the way to pursuing a graduate degree. I enjoyed the field work, going out with my net and ID books, sharing with other nature lovers the secrets we witnessed, and relishing the sense of excitement at what new discovery I could make that day. Through creating Nature ID and following other blogs, I'm fully rediscovering my love of nature.

So, here's to all the backyard scientists and bloggers out there, cheers! Your knowledge and photographs are impressive and inspiring, regardless of whether you're "professional" or not. Thanks for sharing!

On a closely related topic, I particularly liked Bug Girl's Blog posting on pseudonyms and anonymity.

Oh my! The wide world of nature bloggers!

I just spent a good part of this morning trying to add a couple of widgets to Nature ID. Comcast internet service was very slow for a couple of hours, which was a drag. I run Windows ME and haven't upgraded anything since my computer purchase almost a decade ago. Perhaps, when we get new computers (and possibly a new camera) in the fall, blogging will be less time consuming for me. Then, maybe I could also run Picasa!

I also did a little reorganization, by moving relevant blog listings to blogs I follow. By following other followers of the handful of blogs I was following, I discovered a whole world of nature bloggers. Holy wow! There are a lot of nature blogs out there and most are fantastic! I don't know if it was simply the draw of whom I chose to follow, but most blogs are based out of the UK or the Midwest. Nature photography, birds, and gardens seem to be the most popular. I'm still looking for another non-business, non-garden, nature blogger based out of CA.

What I want to know is, how do people find the TIME to:
1) learn how to create an eye-popping blog?
2) actually post regularly?
3) do other things in their lives besides blogging???

I was starting to feel so proud of organizing my humble photos, posting them to document dates and observations, and searching online to ID the things I spotted during hikes. But now? My blog is so basic (yet, scarily lengthy) compared to the clean, well-organized beautiful sites I saw today. So, I've relabeled my index to make it easier to read. I'm not the best writer, nor am I great shakes at photography, and I'm starting to feel a little intimidated about blogging. I really had simple intentions when I started Nature ID, but I can imagine this has the potential to soon grow to take over my life!

ps 03/10/10 - Speaking of widgets, I deleted a couple from my site, because they slogged my blog loading time and I was starting to receive too many automated comments that initially looked okay, but were actually from dubious hackers. I'm also going to delete several blogs that I follow, because some people load their sites with so much commercial crap and fancy schmancy that it takes forever to load and often locks up my old computer.

pss 04/20/10 - I've also blocked several followers. That big eye avatar was starting to creep me out, so I checked it out. Looks like it's someone with decent internet programming skills to auto-follow blogs, same-o, same-o as the dozen other followers I've now blocked. And, yes I know it's supposed to be P.P.S., but I don't like having to use caps and periods if I don't have to and I really don't like the way it sounds when said out loud.

habitat ~ 06/19/09 ~ Fort Ord - BLM Creekside

Fort Ord Public Lands - Creekside entrance

June 19, 2009

Compare these pics with those from our March 14, 2009 hike. I'm usually not a huge fan of hiking at Fort Ord once things start drying up for the summer, but it wasn't too hot and the profusion of sticky monkeyflowers and beautiful manzanitas kept me cheerful. There were several spots under the oak trees which were green with ferns and red poison oak leaves.

manzanita
Arctostaphylos sp.
Ericaceae

This is not the exact same tree as from the May 23, 2009 hike at Fort Ord. I did find it interesting that the bark of many manzanitas had started peeling within a 4 week span.