My Daily Beast 2021

In 2021 I made the New Year's resolution to do some exercise every day. Since I'm not into sports I decided to go for a walk and take a photo of an animal every day and thus make an iNaturalist streak. I also posted my finds on a German nature forum and there it somehow changed into finding a different species every day.
I am privileged to live in the south of Spain, there is probably a higher number of species than in Germany for example. Since I don't have a car my radius was rather limited. After I got vaccinated I did make regular bus trips to the vicinity, mainly in the province of Málaga.
I took photos with a Panasonic Lumix FZ82 with a 60 x zoom and in August I bought a used Olympus Tough TG6 for better macros. Since it is waterproof I also started snorkelling and was surprised what you can find at a "family beach" in the middle of Málaga. By the end of October when it became increasingly unlikely to find anything new during the day, I switched to nightly walks and looked out for moths on lit facades or shop windows.
In short, an otherwise boring year without holidays or larger trips turned out to be quite entertaining and challenging. I found a lot of species new to me and especially the snorkelling and moths opened up completely new habitats. I didn't lose any weight, though.
I tagged the chosen species of the day with "mydailybeast2021" and finally I made a photo book out of it.
https://www.blurb.de/b/11039995-my-daily-beast-2021

Posted on January 21, 2022 10:57 AM by susanne-kasimir susanne-kasimir

Comments

Wow! An inspiration! And what a talent you must have to persuade all those animals to pose for you. You even made the slugs look cosy. My favourite always has to be the Blanus cinereus. And nice to see there are days, like 338, when you aren't up to snorkeling or hiking mountains. (I wonder what happened on December the third!) I'm not sure how much of the privilege is of your own making, but you certainly appear to be taking good advantage of it.

Posted by lionelm about 2 years ago

Hi, @lionelm , thanks for your comment. I can't decide on a favourite, Blanus cinereus is high up the list or Gluvia dorsalis or the sea slug Thuridilla hopei. #338 was the worst day ever - it was the 4th December! I went with a travel organisation to Málaga "to watch the Christmas-lights". I thought if I don't find anything else, I can always take a photo of a parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus). But I had hoped for lots of interesting moths - a whole night in Málaga with warmer weather etc. But when we arrived it was already dark. No parakeets! And not a single moth! I did see a rat, but couldn't get a photo, a street pigeon, which I already had and an earwig, which can't be identified to species after the recent research. So I had to take the street cat, the only wild animal available. :-(

Posted by susanne-kasimir about 2 years ago

It posed beautifully though!

Posted by lionelm about 2 years ago

Woah, that's a really neat idea and wonderful photography!

Posted by mbwildlife about 2 years ago

Congratulations!

Posted by susanhewitt about 2 years ago

This is awesome, and very inspiring.

I agree with you about finding it tough to find new species. I have notionally kept a different agenda. Try and find something different from the taxonomic groups. I am not sure how many there are but hopefully during the process of the 365 will be able to generate a Taxonomic Chart of things seen.

Posted by ram_k about 1 year ago

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