Diario de pisum

I've been making identifications on iNaturalist for at least a couple of months, but I made my first set of observations only a month ago on April 30, 2018. Around that time, I saw others making lots of observations as part of the City Nature Challenge. So I decided I'd get out there and make some observations of my own.

For my observational debut, I decided to visit the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, since that is a nice little spot of wilderness in this busy city, and since there were a few identification mysteries that I wanted to clear up in person. (What kind of Nymphoides is really in that big pond there? What kind of blackberries are really out there? What kind of ferns are really out there?) I intended to stay out there only a couple of hours, but it was such a nice day -- relatively cool, not too sunny but not rainy, not too windy, the frogs were calling, the birds were chirping -- and I was finding so many interesting things -- all sorts of flowers in bloom, tiny insect eggs, unusual insects in yoga poses, etc. -- that I found myself spending almost the whole day out there, ultimately making 80+ observations.

Since I had discovered so much that first day, I figured I'd go explore the rest of the natural areas in the Memorial Park area. Bit by bit over this past month, I covered almost the entire hiking trail system that isn't paved or dedicated to runners. Every outing, I found something interesting and new -- terrain that I didn't know existed in the city, unusual lifeforms of all sorts, nice spots for peaceful contemplation. In total, I spent over 24 hours of the last month out in the field and at least that same amount (if not much more) uploading and researching my 250+ observations. That's over 10 observations per hour in the field, or 1 observation every 5 minutes or so. (I've added my favorite observation from each day to this post.)

It was definitely a crash course in being a naturalist, photographing nature, navigating the Memorial Park trail system, and using the iNaturalist system -- good exercise for the brain, the body, the soul. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover such an active and helpful community out there with experts and projects of all sorts. I guess I'm really part of this community now, and I'll have to figure out what I want to explore next...