sambiology's Journal

So, a small group of us are going to LLELA on Saturday! We're looking for this damselfly in particular (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8286492)... Buuuut, as it usually goes, we'll likely find lots of other stuff. :)

I know that a few folks are coming: @briang @elizrose @galactic_bug_man @brentano ... @mchlfx -- will you be there?!?

Here is where we'll meet at 10 AM:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/33%C2%B003'57.1%22N+96%C2%B058'30.0%22W/@33.0658396,-96.975858,219m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x9d531440da7e0b1c!2sLLELA+Nature+Preserve!8m2!3d33.0633613!4d-96.9914415!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d33.0658567!4d-96.9750079

If you're able to come, come! :)

If you want to read about some of my favorite iNat people, @greglasley and @gcwarbler , take a glance at this article published last month in TPWD magazine:

https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2017/aug/ed_3_birding/

A few folks may want to see this: @muir @briang @brentano @carrieseltzer @jaykeller @finatic @silversea_starsong @eric_keith @charley @connlindajo @wildcarrot @cullen @dfwuw @itmndeborah @kueda @kimberlietx @loarie @tiwane @mchlfx @maractwin @nanofishology @thenehan @tadamcochran @suz @robberfly
It's an enjoyable read!

Friends, mark your calendars. April 5 - 8 (roughly -- maybe longer, if folks want) around Del Rio, Texas -- bioblitz/gathering!

I'm still working on the details, but after talking to some folks, it looks like April 5 - 8 is going to be the target time... Hopefully we get some winter rains that will cause the plants to bloom and bugs to come out. :)

Looking at a few places around Del Rio that we may go:
Amistad National Recreational Area: https://www.nps.gov/amis/index.htm
Devils River State Natural Area: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/devils-river
Seminole Canyon State Park: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/seminole-canyon
Kickapoo Cavern State Park: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/kickapoo-cavern

Again, I'm still working on details of stuff, but mark your calendar if you think you might be interested in gathering with some fellow iNatters for camaraderie and seeing lots of cool things.

Areas with biodiversity are healthier than those without.

It's one of those 'no-duh' statements that we all use as naturalists, but what's one way that we can measure biodiversity? Well, let's document the species!

I was joined with about 20 naturalists in a new nature preserve in Rockwall - Pettinger Preserve. In about 4 hours, we documented at least 200 species (so far). Check out the stuff we spotted:

http://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=121334

We're compiling the nice species list of the place as well:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=121334&view=species

So what? What does it mean? Well, this is another example of how useful iNaturalist is in guiding management. The land now belongs to the City of Rockwall, and they'll be using this data to create trails, avoid certain areas with sensitive habitats, target the removal of invasive species, and restore certain habitats that are good for birds, mammals, and all other organisms.

Thanks to my fellow data collectors:
@tfandre @wildcarrot @dfwuw @brentano @fiddleman @cameralenswrangler @bogslogger @connlindajo @jasmineotto @donnadorman @jwn7882 @spqnancy @daniel112 @butterflies4fun @txstack @cwd912nb @bosqueaaron @elizrose @aguilita @jblinde Hope I didn't leave out anyone!

If you're willing to, please help us ID some of the observations taken in Rockwall County. This is part of a much larger project to document ALL species in Rockwall!

I use iNat for lots of reasons... here's another reason that you should too! Your observations help guide management decisions. :)

I was mighty lucky to attend the Southeast Arizona iNat-athon on 20-26 August.

I was yet again reminded of what iNaturalist is... It's so much more than just a database or an app... It's a community. I met many fellow iNatters for the first time in person, although, truth be told, it seems like I'd already known them for quite a while!

Lots of folks were pretty hardcore observers -- most of the trip, we were documenting EVERYTHING. No creature was safe from our cameras! I tried to document as much as I could, although my photos are not nearly as good as the other folks that attended... I think something was off on my vibration reduction of my camera -- or maybe it was just my overwhelming excitement of seeing so many new things!

The entire trip was really phenomenal – I’ve been reliving the experiences as I go through my pictures of the bugs and plants. I’m going to be using the Southeast Arizona species that have already been documented on iNat to help me with some ID’s, but most of these things are new for me – if I’ve goofed on an ID, please let me know!

Also, here are the other observations from folks during the trip – far better photos than mine and can likely provide more information to aid with an ID:
BJ, Jay, James, Chris, Matt, Katja, Alan, Nathan, Matthew, Ken-ichi, Jason, Scott, Don

I hope I’m not leaving anyone out, and I’m sure that folks are still uploading observations, so the above links will change as people upload stuff.

Next year, Mexico! *fingers crossed!

“It is hoped that the student will regard the identification of a bird as but the first introduction which will lead to a growing intimacy. There is a keener pleasure as well as greater scientific value in knowing a few birds well than in habitually striving for long lists and seeking rarities and doubtful records.”
From Wyman & Burnell (1925) introduction in "Field Book of Birds of the Southwestern United States"

This was posted on Facebook by John Karges @johnkarges a while back, and I must admit, it has me thinking a lot about iNaturalist. I’ve been chewing on that quote for a bit…

Ever since I was introduced to iNat about 4 years ago (thanks to Derek Broman @dbroman and Cullen Hanks @cullen ), my eyes have been opened more to local biodiversity than ever before. For the past few years, every day I’ve gone out to make some iNat observations (inspired by James Maughn @jmaughn ). I get great pleasure from this – I’m daily reminded of the things that we share this planet with – the critters and plants that are just waiting to be appreciated.

I also get great joy when I see something new! "Travel is taxonomically broadening" (something I regularly quote from Chuck Sexton @gcwarbler ), and when I go off to a new place, I see LOTS of new things. My ‘life list’ grows and grows with each trip, even if the trip is like an hour drive away. What joy I get from this – seeing that new bug that I’d never seen before! After posting it on iNat and learning its name (usually with great guidance from the ID’ing community), it’s like I’ve gained a new friend – silly, I know. If I’m lucky to see the same critter again, I greet it with a “hey! I remember you!” (even though I may not always remember its name right away…)

Another thing that provides me with tremendous joy is identifying observations for others. Sure, I probably do this a bit more than I should (ask my wife!), and my ID’s may not be adding much (yes, I do agree with a northern cardinal that already has 10 agrees!), but I’ve also found something out by doing this. People like it when you give them guidance to an ID. I’ve interacted with these folks in ‘real life,’ and they do enjoy it when you ID or agree with an ID. It welcomes the observer and shows him/her that we saw what they posted. We appreciate that they documented that organism, and we validate what they spent time to upload by giving it an ID. Overkill, perhaps, but as I get to meet the observer in real life, he/she appreciates it.

As I ID things for others, I get not just joy, but I feel more knowledgeable about the flora and fauna. I am the first to admit that I’ve been wrong thousands of times… There are many ID’s that I’ve given that are dreadfully WAY off. It’s ok to be wrong. As I add more and more ID’s, I become more comfortable with the names of the plants and animals in a place. This is a cool feeling.

An hour spent ID’ing on iNat is time well spent – I really believe this. I encourage everyone to spend some time looking through what others see, giving guidance on ID’s, even agreeing with agreed upon ID’s! A lot of folks already do this -- they devote lots of time to this, and I'm extremely grateful for their time on my observations as well as the others on iNat.

How do you do ID’s? I like to filter the identify screen – I usually focus on TX stuff, although I want to spend more time on the surrounding states. I search for verifiable observations (I un-click the ‘needs ID’) from TX: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=any&place_id=18

I’ve got a few field guides next to the desk, the Flora of North Central TX is always nearby, and I use bugguide advanced search a lot: http://bugguide.net/adv_search/bgsearch.php

The species guides for specific regions on iNaturalist are getting better and better. For instance, the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) in DFW is pretty extensive: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=57484&subview=grid&taxon_id=47157&view=species

Using those filters on the observation screen narrows down the search a bit.

With each and every observation and documentation, iNaturalist becomes more and more useful. As most people realize, I’m quite bonkers about this tool – and it feels good to use it. :)

Would love to hear how you spend time on iNat too. Hopefully you enjoy it and feel like it is a worthy use of time as I do.

Fellow iNatters,

I was told some pretty exciting news. There is a piece of land (25.26 acres) in Rockwall that is being donated to the city. What will this land be used for? A nature preserve! Exciting stuff.

Rockwall Parks and Recreation has asked me to conduct a little biosurvey of the organisms in this area (baseline study of what's there now). Want to join me?

The date for the biosurvey is on Friday, September 15th. If you need a doctor’s note to get out of school/work, let me know and I can write you a prescription for nature. :)

The land looks like a mix of woody areas, open pocket prairies, a creek and a pond, so there should be some different stuff there! Here is the location:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B057'12.6%22N+96%C2%B028'14.2%22W/@32.9535463,-96.4721573,450m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.95349!4d-96.470618
It’s just south of West Quail Run and east of Parker cemetery (where we will likely meet and park) in Rockwall, TX. It's a bit of a drive for some folks, probably, but I think it'll be a worthy drive!

If you’re interested in coming, let me know, and I can give you some more details. It’ll be on Friday, September 15 from the morning until… well, until you want to leave. :) Tagging a few folks, but let me know if you can think of others:
@taogirl @cgritz @kimberlietx @bob777 @annikaml @aguilita @tfandre @suz @naturenut @denver @wildcarrot @andyk @mchlfx @itmndeborah @zooga1961 @charley @dfwuw @butterflies4fun @tadamcochran @brentano @jblinde @atassin @kalamurphyking @walkingstick2 @squaylei2000 @rmorgan @daniel112 @rehb @galactic_bug_man @fiddleman @gaberlunzi @mertmack1 @phlank @oddfitz @brenledbetter @cwd912nb @lulubelle @cameralenswrangler @briang @jwn7882 @diatomwu @k8thegr8 @cosmiccat @nickmdal @jessicabeckham @interlibrarylowe

As always, no obligations to join, but I'd definitely welcome some extra eyes and cameras to document what we see!

@brentano , @briang and I are going to go to Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area on Saturday, July 8th. Anyone else want to come? I think the major thing we'll be looking for is dragonflies, but there are LOTS of other stuff there too, apparently:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=57414&subview=grid&view=species
The herp community has documented lots of stuff there, but I know there are some things that aren't on the species list for iNat yet! Let's change that.

I know it's incredibly short notice, and I realize that not everyone can come... But if you want to, let me know! Attaching some folks that may be interested that aren't too too far away:

@cosmiccat @kimberlietx @gcwarbler @greglasley @mikeintyler @centratex @eric_keith @lbullington24 @annikaml @aguilita @dfwuw @wildcarrot @tfandre @lauramorganclark @mikaelb @mchlfx @jblinde @nanofishology @charley @galactic_bug_man @mikef451 @cmeckerman @tadamcochran @butterflies4fun @danjohnson77077 @hydaticus @pfau_tarleton @oddfitz @jennformatics @gaberlunzi @daniel112 @griff @benhutchins @beschwar @gpstewart @anewman @august_farrow @connlindajo @cgritz @laurenjansensimpson @itmndeborah @ericisley @oz4caster @lulubelle @alaws @sherylsr @talkbirdytome @andrewbrinker @sarahg @alisonnorthup @billdodd @amberleung @gpstewart

I know I'm leaving out a bunch of folks -- attach/bring your friends if you want to come. Tag people that I left out, please!

The tentative schedule:
Arrive at Gus Engeling at around... 9ish? Explore a bit, get lunch, explore a bit more, then head home later. I don't think I'm going to stay the night, but I suppose you can if you'd like! Palestine is 19 miles away, and there are some places to stay there. It'll probably be mighty hot, so bring LOTS of water, and bring some water boots too. Ticks will be out and about, so it may be smart to spray your clothes too.

No permit or entrance fee required -- I'll be there with you.

Can you come? Comment if you can!

So, we were quite lucky in the DFW metroplex to have @tiwane and @joelle come down from California for a short visit. Several of the iNat heavy hitters came out to explore just a couple of the neat places on the west side of the DFW metroplex: @kimberlietx @brentano @tadamcochran @briang @tfandre @dfwuw @elizrose @butterflies4fun @cgritz @wildcarrot @valt (I'm sure I'm missing some folks... Anyone?)

In the morning, many of us met at Southwest Nature Preserve in Arlington at about 9:30. By around 9:45, we realized today was going to be a hot one... the hottest day in DFW so far this year! SWNP was dragonfly-crazy -- the ponds here were swarming with various species of dragonflies. We grabbed some BBQ at Angelo's in Fort Worth at noon, and then headed up to the Fort Worth Nature Center in early afternoon. We stayed until about 5, then headed back into town and went to Tandy Hills Natural Area. At the end of the day, we got some good Tex-Mex in Bedford.

On Saturday, several of us went down to Acton Nature Center -- I was leading the citizen science training class for the Rio Brazos Master Naturalists. Tony videoed some of the presentation and little practice walk after. It was loads of fun, but again, quite hot! We got some BBQ ribs for lunch, then went back out to Acton Nature Center in the afternoon. After that, a few of us when by the Brazos River to do a bit more exploring.

Overall, it was a great weekend -- really glad that Tony and Joelle came to visit and that we had some of the great DFW iNatters join up.

Something did strike me though -- and I had this discussion with others before... The common species in a region can be super amazing to folks that are unfamiliar with them. I experienced the same thing when I visited California -- EVERYTHING was new! Even the most common of species was exciting to find. I guess that's another beautiful thing about iNaturalist -- as we post the species that we see commonly, others can feel that excitement through our observations. iNaturalist definitely makes traveling more exciting for me. :)

Hey good friends,

So, this weekend is the bioblitz! Again, my apologies that I haven't been a better planner in all of this, but I think it'll still be quite fun -- last minute fun! The weather looks pretty good -- potential for rain on Thursday and a bit on Friday. The rest of the weekend looks good right now.

Ok, here are my general plans. On Friday late afternoon, at like 4 or so, I'll be at this location (https://www.google.com/maps/place/33%C2%B048'42.4%22N+95%C2%B041'02.3%22W/@33.811778,-95.686171,908m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d33.811778!4d-95.683977) -- by the intersection of Farm Road 1499 and County Road 35650. There is a bit of a pull in where we can call it "headquarters." :) If you want to come early, you totally can -- I hear that some folks are coming out on Friday morning to do some exploring. That's cool.

I hear there is a really good fish fry place in Paris, so at like 6 pm or so, if you want, you can join me there:
https://cityseeker.com/paris-tx/946342-fish-fry

Sunset is about 8:00, so I predict coming back to 'headquarters' a bit before to set up some stuff. Michael Fox is bringing a generator, and I'll have some moth gear, so hopefully we'll have some mothing success on Friday night.

Saturday morning, I'm thinking about meeting at the same 'headquarters' location... I'll be up there at like 8:30 or so (depending on how successful...er...late we stay up mothing on night one). I'll bring some Peanut Butter and Jelly and sandwich stuff on Saturday for lunch, and I'll bring extra for those that need some food. It'll be lots of exploring on Saturday.

Saturday evening, I'll bring some hot dog stuff, and hopefully we can find a place to grill. If anyone has a portable grill and would be able to bring it, please do so (and let us know if you can do this!).

Saturday night, we'll do some more mothing, but maybe at another location -- we'll see what sort of different areas might be good to do this.

Sunday morning, perhaps closer to the lake, like right here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/33%C2%B049'00.5%22N+95%C2%B039'02.7%22W/@33.816813,-95.6523158,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d33.816813!4d-95.650762
This is at the end of County Road 34775 and next to the lake.

For lunch, I'll have whatever we don't scarf down of the PBJ sandwiches. If you want to bring some food for the group, by all means do so! :) I don't expect too much fine dining out in the field while we're out collecting data.

Oh, if at any point you have to leave or won't be able to show up until Saturday or Sunday, that's totally cool. :)

I'll bring some of the left over iNat shirts if you want to pick one up -- let me know if you need one, and I'll check to see if I have a size left. If you got one last time, hold on -- if there are extras, I'll let you know. If you have 10 bucks for the shirt, cool, if not, just write me an IOU or identify like 100 of my observations, and we'll call it even.

There are places to stay in Paris -- Elizabeth and I will be at Days Inn on Friday and Saturday night. We'll go to the hotel before meeting up at like 4 at 'headquarters.' There are several hotels in Paris to stay.

If you want to camp, you can do so anywhere at Pat Mayse WMA, or there are places at the nearby Pat Mayse West Campground, just north of the lake -- these have electricity and water:
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/pat-mayse-west/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73333

A few notes: no facilities at all in Pat Mayse -- this will be roughing it, so if you need to use the restroom, there's a gas station towards Paris about 10 miles south of the WMA. Be sure to bring LOTS of water and sunscreen and snacks and stuff. Chiggers and ticks are likely out too, so if you'd like, bring some bug spray. You can bring some waders if you want to collect some stuff in the ponds or lake.

Right now, there are just 18 iNat observations around Pat Mayse WMA... So, please make lots of observations of anything and everything! This data will really help out the biologists and managers of the WMA.
http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pat-mayse-lake-and-surrounding-areas

You can bring any sort of collecting equipment except spear guns. No spear guns. ;) Actually, bring anything you need to get a photo-voucher of the critter/plant, but we don't want to make any physical collections.

If you have any questions or need any more info or anything, toss me a text: 817 771 8793 -- you can also save that number in your phone if you need me or have any concerns.

I really do hope that you're able to come. But if not, that's ok -- I'm thinking we'll do these sort of things at least once a year. It should be a blast!!!