greenmother's Journal

I am sort of surprised that the site isn't linked up to inaturalist, or Project Noah, but it's not. I just wanted to share this with people who might want to participate. It lasts until Monday, Feb 18, 2013. You can visit the link for more information here: http://birds.audubon.org/great-backyard-bird-count

It's a great way to involve your kids in participating in a citizen science project too. A great excuse to go outside and see what's going on.

"The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of winter bird populations. Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers, to experts, and you can now participate from anywhere in the world!"

Once again, here is the link for the main page:
http://birds.audubon.org/great-backyard-bird-count

Last year we could not have fires because of a burn ban, due to the extreme drought. This year at Foss Park, the ban was lifted, but it was still windy and dry. We brought Coleman cook stoves instead of having a fire, to be on the safe side.

This year, instead of being in the balmy 80s, the temperatures plummeted into the 40s. But with the wind coming off the lake, it felt like there was probably a windchill factor in the 30s. It was cold.

Everyone was bundled up in layers of clothing, many of us were unprepared for it to be below the mid 40s. And as the temperatures spiraled in a downward direction, the insects and animals holed up, to avoid the cold as well. I found a flower beetle of some sort, but not much else that was moving. So I focused mostly on plants.

However, some, more experienced folk found all sorts of animals, plants, fungi, and algae. Hats off to you. I just wanted to hide from the wind! This was an unusual weather event for this time of year. Normally such things do not happen until November.

It was a nice time though. It was good to see so many familiar, friendly faces. The kids had a great time, scavenging for insects and reptiles and trying to capture fish. We all enjoyed the hot chocolate and hot tea. And the film, "Where Did the Horny Toad go?" was a very well done documentary on the decline of the Texas Horned Toad.
http://jarofgrasshoppers.com/ I cannot wait to see this on OETA or PBS in general. I saw that they have a page on facebook for interested parties. America has literally, loved that poor lizard to death.

This turned me on to the Horned Lizard Conservation Society.
http://www.hornedlizards.org/

And I purchased a soft cover version of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Horned-Lizards-North-America/dp/0520228278/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1349712002&sr=8-4
If you want to know more about Horned Lizards, this is THE book to get. I have skimmed it once, and will probably wear the spine out on it.

We did not see any Horned Lizards at the park, but it was so cold that I am sure that they were all underground with most of the other reptiles, amphibians, insects and mammals.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the Oklahoma Bio Blitz possible and to all the other individuals and families who participated. We always have such a great time. If you have a Bio Blitz in your state, I highly recommend that you attend.

I and some of my outdoor buddies have noticed that the Monarchs are very far and few between this season. Yesterday I counted 2 in a 10 mile ride. I should have seen 10s or 100s on the roadsides visiting the asters, and sunflowers. The day before, I saw one. Late last week I saw 3, and during the period of the state fair, our peak day of butterfly sightings on our drive through OKC and the surrounding metro area--8 whole butterflies. Mostly in the OKC area.

It's quite demoralizing. The drought has just kicked these poor butterflies while they are already down.

Thankfully we have gotten some significant rain recently, and this has caused the flowers to rebloom which is a boon for all the pollinators. This drought has been so extreme, I expect a large loss of trees and shrubs by next spring. Hopefully the Monarchs will have a better season next year. Hopefully I will have to eat my words soon, because they will just arrive en masse, a little later than usual.

You can visit their site here: http://www.wildcareoklahoma.org/

We are of a mind to take only memories and photographs and leave only footprints. But once in a while we find a a wounded animal or an orphaned baby. We aren't qualified or licensed to care for wild animals or birds, so we take these creatures to the wildcare foundation where they can be cared for properly, and hopefully rehabilitated so that they can be returned to the wild where they belong.

Whenever we take an animal to this place, we do our best to make a donation to help cover the cost of care of that animal. So far we have taken blue jays, turtles, kites, and cotton tails to this center over time. But they care for so many more animals like opossums, skunks, racoons, coyotes, owls, snakes, lizards. Anything you find in the wild, they have probably cared for that animal.

This year Wildcare has taken in many more animals due to the extreme drought these past two years. We are grateful to them for all their hard work in preserving the wild.

Sorry I have not been updating material. Some kind of crud is going around. :(

I have two projects, and I notice that other projects have multiple curators. How does one go about enlisting help for that sort of work?

I noticed a new designation showing up on the photos. Research Grade.

What does that mean?

Anyhow we are out the door in a few minutes to get more great photos of pollinators and whatever else we can capture on film.

Hope everyone else is able to get out and enjoy this glorious fall weather!

The Dragonfly Swarm Project. http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/project.cfm?id=the-dragonfly-swarm-project

I thought this might interest some folks on this site, since I have seen so many images of Dragonflies. I myself, have never seen such an event where there were migratory swarms, but how cool would that be, to see it?

Right now is a good time to be out and photographing insects. The flowers are in their last bloom and a lot of bugs are getting ready for the cold season. This week alone we have photographed 3 different kinds of velvet ants, some cuckoo bees, and digger wasps. So it's been a good week for us. Who knows what we might find this week.

Its just a bit cooler, but not too cold. We still need a lot more rain, but the bit we have received has led to a sudden explosion in flowers. More sunflowers, and second and third and fourth bloomings of crown and beards, the asters have come in as well as wild sweet peas, and other yellow, arid type plants yet to be identified.

With this the butterflies have re-emerged, the bees are busy along with moths and beetles and hornets and flies.

And enjoying every second of it after the 61 days of 100+ temps. It's actually too cold for the bees to fly in the morning. Everything is still dry as a bone out here. Though yesterday it did attempt to rain a little. I have noticed that we don't see too many butterflies, even in cultivated areas with lots of flowers and water sources. Normally this time of year, there would be swallowtails, snouts, monarchs, and admirals everywhere.