End of Year recap
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
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