curiousgeorge61's Journal

I don't know if this is the best way to show this to fellow iNaters but I saw this article today and wanted to pass it along. You can see it at: https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/a-rancher-dies-and-butterflies-lose-the-farm.
Once again it is shown how interconnected things are.

I heated up a tortilla for breakfast for 22 seconds. When I opened the door I noticed something moving. On closer inspection, I saw it was an ant on the bottom of the plate that rotates and she was checking things out as if nothing had happened. I watched her for 10 to 15 minutes and saw nothing changing in her actions. I turned to do something and when I looked back I could not find her inside or out of the micro. It looks like cockroaches aren't the only things that will survive an atomic war.

Well, I finally bought a trail camera and it seems to be working. A coyote and some deer so far. I think I will increase the resolution to the highest setting.

I knew I hadn't been doing much with iNat for a while, but I was surprised to see it had been almost a year since I put up any observations. I think one of the reasons for this is that now that there are so many more people participating than was the case in 2011 when I started here and so the feeling of a small community that I liked seems to have faded away.
I still like to take pictures of nature and find out new things about it so I plan to crank things up and see where it takes me.

It just dawned on me that it is a bit over one year ago that I started doing things with iNat. There have been many changes , most of which I like, and many more people participating.

I am still having fun and and look forward to putting up more observations and viewing the many new ones put up by others.

Yesterday was a lot of fun going out with Greg D. and the 20+ people who showed up for the monthly walk around Pepperwood. Once again there were many different levels of experience and training in the nature fields so there was a good exchange of ideas.

While I tend to focus mostly on plants, particularly those with flowers, yesterday was filled with critters. The night snake was a rare sight on Pepperwood.

Greg's style of meandering, ala John Muir, works much better with my temperament and after seeing how things went during the hike I am going to try to lead more in that manner than trying to cover a lot of territory as has been the case in the past.

I was surprised to see so many things in bloom. I guess the cool temps and extra moisture will account for that.

I have been noticing that by keeping my eyes open for new observations that I am seeing things I didn't pay much attention to in the past. Things like bioms, general descriptions of the plants and animals I see and where and when I see them. I find I am starting to see when there are similarities between different species, which doesn't always mean they are related, can be a fast first step to making a good ID.
I have been told it is a good method for investigating nature on more than one occasion, but until I started doing so much more in such a small bit of time, I didn't see how things flowed together and were connected.
Just another thing I am happy about having gotten involved with inaturalist.

It has gotten easier for me to admit I don't recognize or can key out a certain plant or critter and so put into the system to let someone else use their knowledge to let me know more than I did before.

Also, I have not been able to organize my pictures in a manner so I can scan them pretty quickly to refresh my memory or see if something I observe is a new thing or not. I am hoping to stay as jazzed about iNaturalist in the future as I am right now.

I was out with fellow iNaturalists today trying to stay dry but not really caring because of having too much fun. While I like to go out on my own when I am taking pictures, I am finding it a great boost in knowledge when going out in a bunch. I am directed toward many things I would not have seen on my own.
Thanks to everyone who was with me today.

8 Mar 11 later that day
I was comparing the possible choices given by the data base when I put in blue-eyed grass in the search box and when I got to the CALFLORA description of S. bellum, I found one of my pictures as the example of what it should look like. Too much fun.