galactic_bug_man's Journal

Inspiration can come out of the blue and you have to be open to it. I graduated back in December of last year and I am currently working on some of my own projects in hopes to build a decent portfolio so I can maybe one day soon start reaching out to various magazines that are nature based and other publications that I could work with. With iNaturalist you never quite know where things will take you. This past few days I have been exploring the waterfront of University Drive across the Fort Worth Zoo- the place of my current employ. Along the river there are new apartments being erected and there is a series of bars and a Pottery Barn store. I have been walking along this stretch the last couple of mornings.

The image with the Great-tailed Grackles with the wall is what set this whole thing off. I went home to upload my imagery after work and I reviewed the images. I have reached another milestone in my project build and think this could be a good one to work with. The idea is the Juxtaposition of birds (maybe other animals in the urban setting) photographing only the animals but having a tight crop out of any greenery. A study of infrastructure, human encroachment, but also seeing what species I can find and if they are ones that do well or not in this changing landscape.

When I was attending UTA I began playing with the idea of built environmental shots. However, this kind of blends the two ideas and passions. I do take built environment to raise awareness of the changing landscape. However, this adds a new layer to it. I am going to explore this idea a bit further. Today I went back to the Waterfront and began exploring more on this project and expanding the idea. Even though I am working at the Fort Worth Zoo I am still driving to do more with my photography. I have been rather quiet here lately as it was been busy but also very hot here in the DFW area.

I am still rocking on strong and working to build up my images. I am taking more time to get the artsy shots. Part of my goal now is to make observations into more of an art form. I have been working to build up my macrophotography and general wildlife as well; I am using my skills here on iNatrualist to build and continue my work as an artist and wildlife photographer. It's not just about the observation but the quality of the observation. Making the observation stand out. Citizen Science is still key but also getting images of creatures interacting with their environment has been key for me. Static poses are fine but I have been working hard to get some new and exciting new shots to beef up my image library.

I have been taking my time with my studies alone so I can nail better images when I can. This is something I have been working toward ever since I got me macrophotography capabilities and my big 100mm-400mm lens. I am playing with some big concepts and some new toys and I am still working to thrive in my museum and photography profession. It's not easy; I have the zoo work in the education field down but the photography is going to be a big one that I have to constantly drive at. I have been working at photography since 2015 and I am not slowing down. It may seem like I have slowed up a bit but that is hardly the case here. I am reformatting the observation drive and going for more proper shots. Careful lighting and careful composition. I have been haphazard before but now I am working to bigger and better shots. This is just the beginning of an exciting new chapter.

I have had some time to recuperate from UTA work and now it's time to get back to the grind but working on my new projects, new photography capability, and to continue to plunge ahead. I have some pillars already set in place but now I must work harder to really make everything stick. I have some big stuff coming up and coming along that I am driving towards and by the end of this year I should be able to do some really awesome things are going to be coming around. Next year the next phase of my wildlife adventures will truly commence.

In all of my years of being a naturalist photographing and documenting insects; especially Odonates, I never would have guessed seeing a larva out of water. This was at the Fort Worth Zoo on the beaten path. It was on the main drag nearest the Tasmanian Tower and the Outback area. I saw this and was not sure what I was looking at. It was lurching very slowly as it walked along. It was a rather warm day but before the recent freeze we experienced in the DFW area. I am not sure where this guy came from; I even looked around for possible ponds. Nothing was making any sense. We hadn't had any recent rain events really. The Zoo Creek hadn't had any overflow; I looked around as I could. This guy was covered in grime, soil, and silt, and some algae.

This was a new one for me. Normally if these guys were out of water it would to become a fully fledge adult. It was pretty big so may have been close to shedding exuvia. However, this was an oddity for the season. I only realized it was a dragonfly when I took that first portrait shot and got the mask. To be honest it is one of the most interesting observations I have made to date. At first it didn't scream dragonfly as I had only known them to be in the water when I find them. Only this time the script was flipped.

I am not sure why; the most logical thing to not is the weird weather could have sent this guy out before it was time. Having the mild Texas winters and how hot it has been has made things severely abnormal for some aspects. Even some of our plants are confused; this is one of the most abnormal observations I have in terms of insects. Normally, when I see Skimmers is around the start of spring well into the time of the City Nature Challenge. This makes for a good conversation piece anyway. I am convinced that this has to do with the odd weather. However, I am not sure where this guy was hiding.

I am not sure of any water source that this guy could have crawled from and not have gotten stepped on or become food for another creature. We do have that pond by the Texas Wild area near where I work at the Zoo. However, it would have been a considerable walk and it was coming from the wrong direction. It was nearest the Raptor Canyon area which; there could be an ephemeral pond in the area that I am unaware of. This is not something I see typical and my situation is different from others.

Do any of you guys @sambiology @ryan697 @brentano @kimberlietx know of any similar scenario. Do dragonflies burrow? This one kind of has me in an interesting mystery and I am at a loss to know the full mechanics of how this guy wound up here. There was no hoses or landscaping going off at the time. I would like some more insight to this. If you guys know anyone else who may find this of interest please let me know. I would like to be in the loop with them.

Talk about your strange encounters; this one is one for the records as by far one of my most strange observations. Working at the Fort Worth Zoo I have been keeping tabs on the species that live on the grounds and I am working to help aid our other iNaturalist compadres here boost the numbers. It's a team effort indeed. I wonder what other oddities and strange things we have seen on our grounds. Just when you think you have seen it all... things take a weird turn.

It has become of recent interest of mine to continue the deep dive into the realm of photographing microscopic organisms at the River Legacy Discovery Center pond. I have been collecting water samples off and on. From helping in kids camps and classes to permission based sampling. This is one of the most complex processes I have ever done. This last few days I have been collecting many samples of water to see what I can find during various points of the year.

From the last sample I have collected some rather puzzling creatures. I know the rotifers but there were two rather perplexing species I have not yet encountered. Microscope photography is one of the newer photographic and research avenues I have taken on. Back in November I had a lot of interesting things gathered from Diatoms to the rather intriguing Epistylus. I am keeping a track of all the odd things I find. Not just the plant based items but the animal based life. It is amazing that some of these moving things are kinds of fungi and other oddities.

I often find myself baffled by how amazing the web of life extends in the Cross Timbers region. There are plenty of rabbit holes to go down. I for one enjoy logging and documenting things from the macro to micro. I have collected a few water samples here and there. It is one of the best ways to broaden by interests in nature. Since getting the camera adapter to my Microscope this has made it more feasible to get closer shots of what I photograph. I have had to resort to using a phone mount but the images were not of the quality I sought out.

Since getting the Canon R50 and using not only a microscope mount I have also used the aid of macro-extension tubes that make the images much closer. These are what I use for my insect photography when I have them mounted to my 55mm kit lens. I spend a lot of time going through the samples using 32mm extension lens and one other extension ring I forget the magnification. For the eye piece I use the extender that is a 10X with a 25X microscope lens with the base being around 75-100X magnification for the scope nozzles. I maybe fudging up the numbers a bit but this is around the neighborhood I work in. This is these area I work well in for getting the rotifers, worms, and crustaceans that I find myself often encountering.

I have been tagged by @sambiology who recently had a Microscope conversation with a few interested parties asking about microscopic magnification and what not. I hope this will help in some of the technical jargon. November of 2024 was one of the days I best remember for I did nothing but look at microscope slides all day. I find that when I am doing some exploration I often reserve days for certain things. One day I may focus on birds, then one day like many days just insects. I am working on doing a lot with microscope photography. This is one of the areas that I find myself getting deeply interested in. Since the finding of the River Legacy pond being very rich in good water quality. If myself wanting to compare more of the water quality elsewhere using these tools I have learned through microscopic photography.

I have played around with some samples I collected from Lake Arlington. I gather those ever so often. I have also helped in some exploration at the Dinosaur Valley State Park when I participated in the BioBlitz back in around 2022. It is one of the goals to find insects and fish there are in the water. However, I am curious to find more of the bacteria and the other things that fish and insects eat or what can negatively effect them. The Epistylus find back in November was a very interesting find as they cause fish to have scale rot, breathing issues, and in rarer cases can cause the fish to die. Water ecology has become a large focal point for my photography in recent years. During many of the BioBlitzes I have done recently I have tried to get a lot of water samples to boost my understanding of what goes on in places that we do not often explore. It is even more interesting to look at the things we cannot see with just the naked eye.

I started looking at the various samples of sand I would collect from the beaches around Galveston and Corpus Christi. However, that has evolved into the looking for macro inverts such as Dragonfly, Mayfly, Beetle and other types of larvae but also what those species may feed on on the sub-visual level. This is also a good way for me to understand the various types of ecology that happen in various water ways and vast bodies of water. I have observed some things from Lake Arlington. Yet the yield there is considerably different than River Legacy. It has it's share of pollution which is why I see a large difference in some creatures. However, at the discovery pond at River Legacy I am finding a ton more. This is due to the changes the land managers have made to the pond's upkeep. I was not sure at first when I began my deep dive into what I was going to find. However, back last November to now it has proven to be one of the most interesting training grounds for me.

I am fascinated by the local ecology of all things; nature is just amazing to see in all of it's amazing and vast aspects. To truly understand life you must look beyond the big picture and see each individual part. It's like a very large tapestry or painting. The big picture is amazing but it is all the small details that must be admired. The canvas in which is the earth, then the pigments which could be the microscopic organisms, to the vast paint strokes which are the plants and then the forms which is that of the wildlife. Okay maybe that comes off a bit too cliché, poetic, and maybe cheesy. Yet, this is what I connect with when I am exploring any place. It is all interwoven and connected a lot more than some may think.

Over the course of the last few nights I have been burning the midnight oil looking through sand samples. I have been increasingly interested in the realms of inner space. From small inverts, to looking through pond sludge seeking Diatoms, and other creatures. I had collected some sand from Padre Island. This was not intentional but it is what happens when I collect seashells from the coast. I had went back in December and I had been rather interested seeing what is in the samples I had.

I had seen many micro views of sand and knew there were tiny creatures. Protists are things I have only ready up in books and to actually get some data on them is pretty incredible. You might say with me it opened up a completely big can of worms. I had originally thought that these were micro fossils which do occur with the Protists as I have researched. I have been watching quite a few videos of Forams. I got the samples from around Christmas vacation so I logged them from the exact time and place they were picked up. There was not a huge diversity in the samples but there were plenty to find interesting. I also did come across a fair share of micro fibers which drove me insane.

These are something I am new to these Protista. I had taken basic biology but we hardly ever touched on them. I love finding new things to delve into study. I have books on these types of things but maybe I just had to see them and add some extra context for them to click. Nature on this planet never ceases to amaze. I am going to be doing a lot more microscope works in the near future. Diatoms were just the tip of this iceberg but I love doing microscope work just to see how things go. Nature is just that a puzzle and a mystery and the more you find the more you lose yourself in it's diversity. I have not done a lot of microscope work; I have my own personal one but to be fair I have been rather reserved with it; yet, I think it is time to do more with it especially with summer on the rise. I need to log in things I see from all seasons.

Down one rabbit hole and out the other.

Well I am still at it and back at it in 2023. Christmas vacation was great; I had a lot of fun down at the coast and explored a lot of the Lower Rio Grande Valley which was a first for me. I have covered a lot of new ground in 2022 but 2023 is another chance to make more happen. For Christmas I got some fun camera equipment and that came in the forms of some macro lens filters and extenders. I also got an awesome stabilizer. I am ready to rock the new year in style. It is going to be a rather interesting year. I am at UTA now and this is my second semester and I will be taking a new class in photography this year; another chance to up my game will come in this class. It is Black-and-white photography but it is all good I will more than likely pick up a lot of useful tips and tricks.

This year I am going to be doing a lot more birding and a lot more insect counts than before. I am going to be doing my usual load of volunteer work like I normally do. However, I have been in the loop of other circles and have some more interesting things lined up. I am looking forward to this year's City Nature Challenge and I am looking forward to all the major BioBlitzes as usual and National Moth Week. I am also excited about this being the 100th anniversary of the Texas State Parks system so I will make it a point to explore these parks and get some more under my belt since it is a special commemoration. I will do what I have been doing all this time but I will be doing a lot of different photography stuff.

Last semester I go a new Jintu Manual 45mm-800mm telephoto lens and I am going to be doing a lot with that lens so I can continue my search for that illusive Dragonhunter. This is among my priorities for the year. I have been on the search for this dragonfly for nearly eight years now. I am going to be rather busy but that is the way I like it. I am going to be doing a lot more with my microscope photography too. I have been rather reserved with some of my photography. I need to continue to explore the micro realm since it has a lot to do with what I like the most in terms of birds and insects. I am going to be kicking it into high gear this year. I am going to try and double my species list and observations list. It is a steady growth.

One of my new goals to break 3,000 species on my list. I am very, very, very, very close. It is going to be pretty easy once it gets warmer. I am thinking about getting to the mothing a lot earlier than I normally do. When it is warm I will be doing some here and there. I am not going to do it yet but I will be prepping for it. I am always checking the weather charts and once that first snap of warm weather hits it is on. I am going to try and focus on more plant photography as well. With some of my lens filters it has brought me into wanting to add some more layers to my work. If you really want to know what gets me so involved in citizen science and photography it is pretty much all the layers I add to what I do and what I like. It has been a constant learning and love affair with wanting to know how things are all combined and intertwined. Sure geology and fossil exploration when I was younger really blew the cap on expanding to all forms of life.

I am hoping 2023 is filled with more road trips. I am going to try and shoot for some more places I have never been too. I have been to a lot of states in the last few years but I like to explore a lot of areas outside my home area to get an idea of what else is out there and make connections back to where I come from. No matter how you look at it even the most far off places are connected to everything around. I am going to be doing a lot of upgrading in my native plant garden. I hoping to do a lot in the new year with other things but these are some of the basic naturalist goals I have for the year. This year I am hoping to really get into the thick of some more things and get up to my armpits in exploration. Already at the start lets see how things go from here.

Huh... finally! Getting out of this slump. With all of that cold icy weather we had in the winter I am now back in action for the long haul of 2022. I have hit a slump in a few ways. One was the ice and cold; in many areas it hindered me from getting out. The snow was not bad but we had a bit of ice in the area that prevented me from getting around in my backyard for my porch and drive were frozen solid with black ice one some days. I have also been really busy with classes. I am finishing up my final year at Tarrant County College. This is my graduating semester. I have already been accepted in UTA and will be going into a wildlife photography field and filmmaking. I am not sure which exact direction I am taking for I still have some things to work out but I have the ball rolling to get to UTA in the fall of this year.

With that said classes have been a bit time consuming but have been rather good and interesting. I am taking an awesome geography class and a very interesting federal gov. class. I am now enjoying a very nice spring and with spring the City Nature Challenge is about to come around the bend. I am already well into training. I am ready to take on this year's contest. If you ask me the last couple of years for the City Nature Challenge were kind of lagging in morale. That was mainly due to the pandemic but I have to say last year even though I was not feeling it at first was my best run yet. This year I hope to break that record I made. I had well over 900 observations even though I didn't get to hit that big thousand.

This year it is no holds bar. I am going to be working double time and bringing my super A game. I have started mothing pretty early this year. This weekend I began mothing and everything is A-okay. Every year I like to check the bulb on my UV light just to make sure it doesn't need to be replaced. It is still working like a charm. I got quite the load the previous night. I was able to get quite a few different things. I didn't get much but I did get quite a few things. It was not that hot or sticky like my little friends like it. However, it was a very good run for the early part of April. I have a few new things I will be using some new tools I have acquired in the last year. For my birthday in 2021 I got a new scope and even a cool little game cam. I will be using these to get some better images and more images. The game cam will come in handy when I am away or asleep. This will be a good tool to use to help boost my numbers somewhat.

I have been using my game cam a Primo's Bulletproof 2. It is a good new tool I have. The scope is great too. I need to find a screw I can use to put my phone holder back together so I can use my cellphone to take photos. This is going to a bigger season for me. I am already going outside of my house more at night now that I am starting to see more and more creatures emerge. I have been really busy trying to round up my observations too. I am at 17,550+ but I am hoping to round up to about 18,000 or more. It is just something I feel will be good to do. I try to round up before the contest anyway. Sometimes I gain species before hand and there are some I am likely to miss. Still it is good to look high and low and to see what you can find before hand. I know it is still a ways off but I am pumped. I like to get in the zone when I do this thing. April is always my busy time anyway. I am hoping for a good City Nature Challenge run this year. I am hoping for a good outcome this year. I am told that we will have some more ground to cover in some areas. I will be going to my the big places again. I am going to try and do more mothing events and what have you. Plans are still taking shape but I am getting a battle plan formulated. This CNC is going to be amazing.

Looking forward to this year's big Backyard Bird Count. I am so glad that I will be back at River Legacy for this event. Last year we got snowed in but still got a lot of good data on that day and got a pretty good count. This year I will be volunteering like I normally do but I will be getting around to do some of my own stuff after the event I am working and during the course of Sunday. I have been doing this event for a good while now. I love being with the kids and talking about birds. I am hoping we have a good run this year. With the last bit of rain and the high winds I am not sure what to expect. I am hoping that we have a few new things blowing in.

I will have to put some seed in my feeders so I can get a good count in my yard this year. I will also give my scope another go in the field. I am looking forward to using the scope for this event. I will be using it at River Legacy. I am thinking about after the event I will go down around the river and see if there is anything hiding. I will also swing by the Village Creek Drying Beds just to see if anything is out there too. I have been a little rusty with some things. For one my computer was on the fritz, so we had to get a new one. It is working like a charm and is very nice. I am practicing editing my images to compensate for the resolution. I never really had that as an issue but since this a different computer all-together well tweaks have to be made to the way I edit my images.

I am glad I will have a break from classes and the house for a bit. I have been doing well but I need a bit of brain break. I am trying to not have a nervous breakdown. With this being my last semester at Tarrant County College I am needing to make sure I do not falter in my grades. I have been doing good so far. I have been partaking in some of the cultural stuff for Black History Month at my campus and have been participating in some of the other events. I am doing what I can to mix classes with some fun but not trying to overindulge. I am starting to come to the busy season and will be doing a lot more with volunteering starting tomorrow onward until the winter. It seems to be the cycle. This is the start of my busy season for sure.

Looking forward to some good birding. I have been doing a bit off and on. I did a lot of it when I was at the coast over the course of the Winter Break. That was a rather fun trip. Got to go to some new places that I have never been to. I did manage to get some different birds. So, I have not been too rusty with spotting birds. I did break my good pair of glasses by accident so now I am running on spares until my new frames come in. That will hinder me a bit I am beating myself up about it. I am glad I got some new frames but with all the Covid-19 stuff going on still; there is a bit of a hick-up with factory work for my frames. Still, I will manage. It is not the first-time stuff like this has happened and it won't be the last. I have all my gear packed and all set. I will have to figure out how to carry all my stuff. I keep joking and keep saying I need a pack donkey to pull around with all my things. Don't know why that is the joke but it is just something that I keep throwing out there since I have so much to carry now besides just the backpack, binoculars and the camera bag.

I do have to move some things around tonight. I will have my fanny pack that will have my personal count list. I have some note pads that I got from multiple people that will come in handy. I will keep a park list too. I will be in charge of our white-board and will be keeping the tally like usual with some help of course. Anyone can put things on the board, but I am the one who kind of helps keep things in order. This will be a fun event. They have switched it up a bit and we will be doing more of the citizen science part and less of the hikes and things which is quite interesting. This shall be fun; it always is. Anytime you get to work with wildlife it is a fun time. Work is fun when you are working with wildlife.

So I am finally getting some plans drawn out for another trek down at the coast of Texas. I was afraid with all the stuff going on like an expensive roof and ceiling repair we were not going to make it. We had a branch penetrate our roof during a pretty big storm but have since got the repairs in order. Most likely we will be around Corpus and Port Aransas like we always are. This time around Seashells and shore creatures will be on my list of things to document and photograph. I have since become rather interested in looking for more shells and other things to add to my list. The last big trip I took out to Galveston I found some nice bone samples too of fish and some crab carapaces. I have quite a few shells from previous years but not in very good amounts as I would like to have on my species list.

Aside from that this will be another three day trip since we are trying to save up for a bigger summer vacation. Still birding will be a major point on this adventure like always since the migration has ramped up once more. I am going to be doing a lot of beachcombing. I normally do a little bit here and there but this time I am making it a point to do some more but more thoroughly for this trip. I am already working on a target species list. I am looking forward to getting more shells and maybe one of those cool Nudibranchs I have been hearing about. I was watching a Texas Parks and Wildlife episode on PBS one time and they had a guy that was birding and he was showing off a piece of seaweed to show what the shorebirds eat. He pointed out a tiny sea slug and I thought that was pretty fascinating.

Looking for more than just those specific things. I am also hoping to do some shell collecting more or so. I will be looking for a few complete finds to display and begin working on a reference collection. So far shells and fossils have been on my mind ever since the Texas Master Naturalist annual meeting. I hope this trip runs smoothly; I am looking forward to getting some great photos. I am also thinking about getting my Nikon Coolpix L830 fixed up. I am going to get a second opinion on it for that is the camera I can get some sharper images and closer shots of hard to see things. My Canon Rebel T6 works just fine but I also want something with me that won't get as much sand contamination. Still even if I can't get that fixed I always have my phone I can use. Sure I don't like to use the phone as much; but since I am doing a lot of iNaturalist presentations and what not with small groups I need to learn how to use the phone more to help people get started.

Either way it will be fun to get some new species and new photos in. I am hoping the Whooping Cranes will be one I get finally get a photo of. I have been to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge three times already in the winter and still have not been able to get a shot. I had one chance but they were flying overhead and the shock of it all made me freeze I was just in awe. I am going to be doing some birding around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge but I am also hoping to doe some stuff that I have not done before. One point I am looking into is the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. I have not been there before. I am also looking at Port Aransas Nature Preserve. I am trying to find some other places to find seashells; I pretty much have all the birding places I want to go already picked out for the trek. I also want to try and get back out to the Padre Island National Seashore and see what is out there in terms of birds.

I tell you guys back in 2015 it was all about the birds with me. I really failed to get a lot of the shells and other wildlife when I first went out. In 2016 I was able to come to my senses since I was on my way to become a Master Naturalist I taught myself to not just focus on the birds. 2017-2019 I have been doing much better getting observations and exploring more. Still I had kind of a slow start there for a bit but I have looked at my maps recently on this site and have been getting many more good tacks on the coastal map. I am looking forward to this year's exciting trip. I am looking forward to it.

After the trip and after Christmas I am planning to go to the North Sulphur River to do some fossil hunting around there. May do some iNatting around there too. I am so looking forward to the school break. I can just have sometime out in nature and relax. This semester has been good but stressful but the break is almost here and I am ready to kick back and go on another major adventure once more. I am still looking into going to the Atwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge. I still have not been out there yet. I am hoping I can do that on the way down or the way back up from the coast. Not sure but I have to go to that place some time. I may have to go back to Oso Bay area as well. I went to their nature center and I must say that place is simply wonderful. I also like the Hans and Sutter Wildlife Refuge I went out to that park around dusk back in 2018 and got some really nice images of some birds feeding at night. That was one of my favorite memories. Well I am going to put a gate on this entry but everything is coming along swimmingly (Pun intended). It is going to be a good trip and I can't wait to smell that salty air, feel the sand and listen to the crashing waves once more. The beach has been calling me all year. It is time again for another awesome beach trek.

I am gearing up for my run for the pollinator BioBlitz. Tomorrow I am going to be at Fish Creek Pavilion giving a talk on iNaturalist to help get more people in on how to use the site. This is a program I am doing with Been City Arlington. I have finished up my power point and all ready to present. So far only three people have signed up for our event. That will help if we have a small group then I can work more one-on-one with the folks that show up to help better. I am going to be doing a lot over the next two weeks with the two week long BioBlitz; perhaps the biggest thing is going to be on the 16th of this month.

There is a new lake project at Lake Arlington that is about to be opened as an education and learning area for school and academia groups. I will be heading there when the time opens and will be out with most of my gear. I will have my sweep net, scope, insect catching bag, and most of the other stuff. Being a new area to me and being a new area to explore to the fullest I am going to try and stay out most of the day. I am very close to 17,000 observations with any luck in these two weeks I will be able to surpass that. The Texas Pollinator BioBlitz had opened today however it has been raining all day here.

I have went out in my yard and checked a few of the flowers but I was not successful at turning up anything. I am hoping that tomorrow workshop fairs better. In my lecture I am also going to help our trainees get some observation time in. I will be helping get new accounts set up for our guests. It is going to be most interesting to do this in a group other than school. I have been thinking about my plan of action for this BioBlitz. Most of the time I plan ahead for every BioBlitz. The CNC this year I did have some what of a game plan but not in full during the Master Naturalist Social Distance BioBlitz my plan was kind of iffy.

However, this BioBlitz is one I need to focus on. One of our sub-objectives is to get more bee observations. Not just observations but more bee species. I have been doing a lot of research and working up to this point I have seen quite a few bees. I have been walking around a TCC South and TCC Southeast and exploring our native plant gardens and around the ponds for different Pollinators. I have been very successful locating some species of sweat bees and other pollinators. I have added at least one new species to my own counts but I am not sure about some of the other counts. I have been focusing on gathering new species data. This is just for Tarrant County. I am hoping to help our group shed some light on our bees so we can better promote native bees in this area. I am hoping to find more species as this time progresses.

I will be making a few more runs to Lake Arlington at Richard Simpson Park which has a nice patch of some flowers that are covered in pollinators right now. I am also seeing a lot of the Marsh Fleabane and the Goldenrod coming up in many places. I am looking forward to seeing the data that we gather. The new area is the one place I am most interesting to explore. Being an area with little to no foot traffic this will be a great place to study some of the local wildlife. Richard Simpson and Bowman Springs are so heavily congested and Richard Simpson seems to be the only place on the lake that seems to have the highest level of wildlife.

Lake Arlington in recent years has become a place of interest. I have seen many species that often don't show up in this area. I have had one recently that is called the Orange-spotted Flower Moth. I am interested in the species counts at the lake too. After they tore down the Yacht Club that was in terrible disarray for years it seemed that much of the wildlife started to show up. Being in part that new areas which had been previously closed are now open. This has been the case for a few years now. I am hoping that this new area has some good rewards. I am not sure what to expect to find. I am looking forward to looking at all the pollinator strongholds and looking for some bird species too. Since the migration season is also ramping up too it will be good to explore some of these other types of wildlife in the area too.

Well, I am still going to Georgia but due to a few minor issues we will not be able to get to Florida right now. However we might be saving that for the Winter Trek. We go to the Texas Coast a lot and we are kind of thinking about making a big change up. Anyway, so now we have a few less vacation days but that does not mean that it will not be any less fun. We have found a few more options and one of those is to get the City Pass which includes entry to the Georgia Aquarium which is a must for me and my brother, I am also interested in the Fernbank Museum, the Coco-a-cola museum will be fun just because I am interested in learning not just about wildlife but also just how things are made and how things work. I love to go to some of those off-the-rails adventures. Fernbank as I looked up looks pretty cool. I have not been to this area of Georgia before so far as I know. Atlanta will be some new territory for me. In our adventure we are planning on going to a few National Parks since my dad does have the senior pass for us to get in free. So being tight on some funds this will help a bit. Okefenokie is a no go sadly but I can save that for our big Christmas Trip.

Yesterday July-19 was my birthday and I got a brand new scope that I can't wait to use in the field. I have been playing with that sucker a lot since I got it. I am getting my gear sorted and a check list made to make sure I don't forget anything. I am going to be traveling pretty lightly. Grabbing only some of the citizen science gear/ all the cameras/ some of the tools I use. No big nets or anything like that just the bare essentials. I will not have that much time to do a lot of in-depth stuff but this will be indeed a phase project I will be doing. I am hoping that I get to find a lot of cool stuff. I have noticed that Georgia has very few observations compared to some. I mean overall it is an impressive amount of stuff but for each areas it is quite an odd site. I mean in Texas I have seen many places with over a thousand species; however, when I see Georgia's record I am like wait hold up. Some areas only have like six hundred or so observations. I love to add stuff to counts out of state and this will be a good project. I am going to be looking for a few things but one of which is the Pileated Woodpecker. That sucker has been just as pesky to find as the Dragonhunter. However we will be deep in swamp areas so this will be very cool. I am looking forward to all the places we will travel too. I am looking forward to seeing that big Aquarium and their new Tiger Shark exhibit. I mean it is just amazing what they have in that place. I am looking forward to the all the big things we will do. A few patches will be collected and a lot of photos and some videos will be taken too.

I am all giddy with anticipation. This will be the first time since I was six years old that I will be going back this far east. I have made it my mission since I joined iNaturalist to go back to some areas I had been to that I thought were really cool and go back and pick up some of the pieces to help rekindle old memories. Find past possible lifers and also just have a new experience all together. Just like in Colorado I got to go to some of the old hangouts and some new places. So each time I go out I am making new connections with the roots of the past running deep. I mean it is amazing to see just how somethings have changed but yet how they stay the same. I mean used to I was not very observant but now I am always using my sense of observation more than I used to. So this is great to see old areas of exploration but adding more to the old memory card (my brain). I mean it is just going to be very interesting to see what I can find. I have seen the species list and there are quite a few things I am wanting to see. Also one of my targets is the illusive Dragonhunter. I will be in a good position for a lot of things but I will have to make the most what time I have out there. I will be doing a lot of things out there and with my trips no time is wasted for learning. True in Missouri I didn't go to too many wild areas but I did find a few good species to start on for that area. I need to go back to that place but there are some future trips that maybe in the works. My aunt is wanting us to get passports so we can go to Alaska sometime. I know I would love to do that trek. That one I will need to take some time to do. That will be amazing but right now we have to work our way up.

My family has always loved to travel around and see the sights and see new things. For me I have that rover spirit that just can't be contained. If there is trails I have not been on or places I have not been to I want to explore them. I have always been that way. I love making connections not to my own past or my own stuff but I like to explore history and the deep roots of different cultures. I love to learn and explore. Sure at the end of the day I do like my nice warm bed and love to have my home base and my garden and just my home life but every summer, spring break, winter vacations and most weekends I am hitting the trail and looking high and low for all sorts of things. I am ready to take on documenting more of the east. This will be another big leap in uncharted iNatting territory for me. I mean the place is not uncharted but not ever being there to do iNaturalist is like a new frontier of discovery. I am hoping to find some big things and maybe make some unusual finds. I am looking forward to seeing what I will see. I always am. This will be most interesting.