Diario de naturegirlkh

With the attempt to continue with something in the journal I thought of an end of year posting. Why is it that I can write all day long if I think no one will ever read it, but as soon as I think someone will, I get a mad case of writer's block?

Trip of the year:
Spending 6 weeks in Europe. New things to photograph, new species to see, and best of all, it was my Father's first trip abroad.

Photo of the year:
Only because the observation itself was a by chance observation. A desert blonde tarantula with a red harvester ant head attached to one leg. How did you escape with only one ant head and not being taken completely down? Pretty cool stuff.

Surprise of the year:
Black-browed albatross. This guy wasn't native to where we were visiting and people were flocking from all over to see him. Just luck for us! From what we were told they call him Albie (or Albert) and he shows up every year. Is this the same bird who potentially got blown into Scotland in 1967 and stayed with various Gannet populations every year since?

Memory of the year:
The noise from the Bempton Cliffs. So many birds building nests and fighting over space and making baby birds. The chatter was loud, the number of birds many. It was pretty amazing to be right there with all of them sitting on the edge of the cliffs and watching a blip of their lives.

The one that got away:
Does the adder count? I looked for one awfully hard and never got one. So I guess not since you can't get away if I never saw you to begin with. Lets see, this year who got away? I suppose the one that got away this year would be the pheasant while I was in South Dakota. They were by the road every day and every time I stopped to get a photo, they took off. I mean really? I've never seen an animal so many times and failed at even getting a horrible shot of them.

This years lifers:
For the sake of this list, I am including DOA's and they will be stated as such since a live specimen was not seen to take the place of the dead one. I suppose in the scheme of things it all counts, dead or alive because the presence of the species dead shows a population is there and alive, I just didn't get the chance to see it. Also including species seen in the wild for the first time and not in a captive or purposefully introduced setting. Not including plants, although that is a hefty list on its own.

Gray Seal
Northern Gannet
Eurasian Oystercatcher
European Green Crab (DOA)
Black-legged Kittiwake
Common Goldeneye
Eurasian Jackdaw
Western Roe Deer
Common Slow-worm
Garden Snail
Common Wood-Pigeon
Razorbill
Red-throated Loon
Grey Heron
Common Merganser
Eurasian Bullfinch
Common Chaffinch
Eurasian Blackbird
White Wagtail
European Common Frog
Harbor Porpoise
Eastern Gray Squirrel
White-lipped Snail
Egyptian Goose
Hooded Crow
Carrion Crow
Shanny
Spiny Spider Crab (DOA)
Eurasian Coot
Ring-necked Pheasant
Common Mure
Peregrine Falcon
Common Ringed Plover
Graylag Goose
Common Pochard
Rook
European Goldfinch
European Robin
Rock Pipit
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Viviparous Lizard
Eurasian Otter
Common Hedgehog (DOA)
European Rabbit
Cabbage White
Common Carder Bumble Bee
Common Blue
American Copper
Hawthorn Fly
Buff-tailed Bumble Bee
Common Sootywing
By-the-wind Sailor
Common Cardinal Beetle
Zebra Jumping Spider
Common Periwinkle
Black Slug
Spotted Orbweavers
European Edible Sea Urchin
European Minnow
Common Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Blue Mussel
Bloody-nosed Beetle
Edible Crab
Duke of Burgundy
Black-browed Albatross
Coal Tit
Eurasian Siskin
Wall Brown
Black Bladder-bodied Meloid
Eurasian Moorhen
Western Polyphemus Moth
Speckled Wave
Xenox habrosus
Elegant Bush Katydid
European Toad
Pod Razor
Eurasian Magpie

The whole point of selecting certain places to stay while traveling through England was the proximity to places we wanted to visit. Everyone wants to see Stonehenge, right? Well, I'm a little different. I can't do anything the easy way. We stayed at a hotel that stated it was within walking distance from Stonehenge. We set off to go on our trek and the girl at the front desk was telling us that she wouldn't walk to it. Part way through our walk, we agreed. But we continued on walking against traffic in the tall wet grass making jokes that everyone who passed us were going "crazy foreigners". They wouldn't be wrong if they did.

Well, had we not been crazy and decided to get a taxi, I never would have found my only hedgehog observation. Granted, the poor thing was crushed, but I saw one. And a decent looking Roe Deer. Granted it was also dead. But it is an observation so it counts. Maybe next time I can find a live hedgehog.

It is a funny thing when your Captain is so used to you getting distracted that even she points things out to you. While mopping up on a 17 acre fire and making sure all the spots were cooled down, we were sitting in the brush truck. She was driving and had parked as we were training a new crew member. That is when the little mouse hiding in the tree we were checking was spotted. My Captain turns to me and says "there is a mouse, don't forget your helmet". I jumped out and got down under the branches and got some photos of the scared little guy who didn't understand we were there to put the fire out and save its home. It ran under and over the burned branches with no grass around to scurry off into. While taking photos I also made sure the tree was cold so it wouldn't reignite and the mouse got to hang out under the cooled branches.

No human structures were threatened, but I'm sure the mouse appreciates its home being saved, even if it didn't realize that is what we were doing.

I have recently joined the forums of iNat and taken up a few discussions. One topic was an observation that you were witnessing, yet failed to document. Some very interesting responses were put up and most were failed due to not having a camera. My "fail" as it were, was not because I lacked my camera, but because others scared off the observation subjects.

I was in Thailand. I was halfway through a six week Asian Adventure. On this day I was in Khao Yai National Park. My guide was driving to an area knowing the goal was wildlife photography. We stopped at a pullout and got out. In the field was a male muntjac and a large monitor. We sat quietly as we watched the large lizard stalk the little deer. The muntjac would look up and around and go back to grazing, then look up again. The monitor was walking slowly and stopping when the muntjac raised his head. I watched as they got closer and closer to one another. Was I about to get photos of a dinner battle? Would the monitor succeed in capturing a meal? Would the muntjac get away? I snapped photo after photo and watched eagerly. I was torn, I wanted to see the monitor succeed in getting dinner, but I wanted the muntjac to escape. Whatever would happen, would happen.

A van full of tourists pulled up. Everyone got out of the van loudly and rushing out into the grass. The muntjac took off running. The monitor looked towards the people and sulked off in the other direction. I missed the dinner battle and was a bit annoyed by the interruption. I'm guessing my facial expression matched the monitors, if it were able to make facial expressions.

I still wonder who would have won. But, I have the photo with them together, even if the battle never happened.

Same photo, different specie observation:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109619924 (muntjac)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109619922 (monitor)

-Nature Girl

I had an observer reach out to me about how they wished I would journal. I had said I wouldn't know what to write. Even if it were a simple line or two describing what I was seeing, the area of the observations, they responded. I do keep a journal, a physical one about my travels. I have little thoughts in my mind about various observations. Silly antics about getting a photo of something when I'm very much supposed to be focused on something else.

I earned the moniker "Nature Girl" because all my friends know that is where I want to be. Where I spend my time. Even my coworkers know that I am most at home and comfortable out in nature. I had a friend tell me once that the only relationship I seem to be open to is with nature and not with another human. If I'm not working, I'm hiking. I'm looking for critters. I'm exploring the world around me. I write in a private journal about my adventures, not all biology related, but I do write, a lot. I write about how I wish other people loved the wild places and the beauty of the world around us, like I do. I want to share it with people. And I want them to love this planet and what it has to offer as much as I love it. Enjoy it as much as I enjoy it.

Actually in the weeks prior to this individual writing to me about starting a journal on here, I had thought about starting one. I didn't know what to write. I didn't know if I wanted it to be public. When I write it is often just for me. As I am writing this I can see that it shows I can select an observation to associate with this post. I don't know how that will look, and it may take me some time, but perhaps I will start by going back to some observations and writing about those. It might be nice to see the observation attached to a little writing.

Oh, and thank you observer for complimenting my photography. I sure try. It is an art form I am working on and photos are a way to share the world I've seen with others. I know you will be reading this since you are the first, and only person who asked me to journal. It was more than a few lines, but I will try to do some little journal entry for some of my observations. I have been going back in time and uploading old ones, but for future ones I will try to get something up here for you, and anyone else, to read about my observations.

• Nature Girl