Diario del proyecto Denton Wild

Greg W. Lasley
(@greglasley)
1949 - 2021

Greg passed away earlier this evening after struggling to recover from a serious illness.
His wife Cheryl was by his side in San Antonio, Texas.
I will have more information about this transition in a short while.
Right now I am still absorbing the news and trying to figure out
what the world will be like without my friend of 40 years.

Posted by gcwarbler gcwarbler, January 30, 2021 10:00 PM
@gcwarbler

City Nature Challenge - April 30 - May 3. Mark those calendars and cancel all plans. You've got to spend time in nature!

Hey friends!

So, the city nature challenge is coming up again at the end of April! I predict that it will be more of a 'collaboration' than a 'competition' -- although on the group call yesterday, the trash talk coming out of Houston (wink wink @habitat_jaime !) was painful to my ears... ;)

Mark those dates on your calendar -- April 30 - May 3 for observing, May 4 - 9 for ID'ing/uploading (you've got to have your observations uploaded by May 9th for them to 'count'). If you need a doctor's note to get out of work/school/family time, let me know. Just put the word "NATURE" on these days! Engage with nature as much as you can during this weekend -- and hey, if you're able to make a few observations, that's cool too. Just engage with nature!

Like last year, I predict that many of our public events will be slightly limited... COVID's still raging, and who even knows what April will be like. Nonetheless, stay tuned for public events -- I'll definitely post them in this project if there are any going on. Join this project if you want to be updated!

Relevancy: I've used last year's City Nature Challenge in DFW a lot... It's convincing when I'm talking to a city council or park board when I show them that over 1300 people sought out nature during a pandemic. There is biodiversity in the DFW metroplex. We seek out natural areas in our backyards and in public parks, and there's data to show it: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020-dallas-fort-worth Nature is clearly essential to us all, and this data is some useful conversational ammunition to the folks that make land management decisions.

I do hope that you participate in the city nature challenge, but most of all, carve some time to engage with nature however you need to. It's our refuge during odd times too!

Posted by sambiology sambiology, January 28, 2021 03:06 PM

We thank Jamie Baxter-Slye @baxter-slye for sending this post our way. - RRC

Are you ready for the Sept 6th - 12th DFW iNat Challenge, physically distant style?

Hi Everyone! Sam Kieschnick, Texas Parks and Wildlife DFW Urban Wildlife Biologist, has created the Fall 2020 DFW Socially Distant iNat Challenge, starting 12:00am September 6th to 11:59pm Sept 12th.

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fall-socially-distant-bioblitz-dfw-urban-ecosystem

Here is Sam's message:

Like many of you, I've missed out on doing some public bioblitzes all this year. Nonetheless, nature's still out there, just waiting for us to appreciate it and document it. I hope you all have taken some time to escape outside to look for bugs and birds and whatnot.

Well, in the meantime, let's have a little fun competition! This is sorta like a local scale city nature challenge -- only just in the DFW area! What area of DFW can document the most species, make the most observations, and have the most engagement?!?

First of all, you don't have to be a master naturalist to participate! You don't have to join any projects. This umbrella project is composed of the 6 master naturalist chapter areas. Observations made in these areas are automatically added to both that project and this umbrella project. Again, you don't have to be a master naturalist to participate, but if you are a master naturalist, hopefully you can get some volunteer service time for your participation.

So, observations of wild organisms made between September 6 and 12 will count. At the end of this time, I'll put together a little report and will highlight some of the cool finds. Also, each day there will be a "daily challenge" -- I've got a list of 7 things to look for, and you get extra respect points for documenting the daily challenge organism/interaction. :) Respect points are worth their weight in gold!

Hope you will participate! And which area do you think would have the most observations/species/participants?!? :)

Here are the general "rules" for the bioblitz:

Observations must be made between September 6 - 12.
So, one second after midnight on Sept 6 to one second before midnight on Sep 12... Sunday - Saturday. 7 days of bioblitzing!

Observations must be made within these 15 DFW counties: Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise.

Where you make the observation will determine which project it's added to. Although, ALL observations are added to this umbrella project, so they all count.

Observations must be of wild (not cultivated or captive) organisms. So, no captive pets or cultivated plants will count. It's ok to observe these, but recognize that the project won't catch them.

Observations need to have a photo or sound. Without these, the observation just stays casual grade. We'd like to see some sort of evidence of your observation.

Observations need to be uploaded before the 18th. Try your best to get the uploaded sooner! The sooner you get your uploaded, the more likely they'll be ID'ed for the results given on the 18th.

ID as many of the observations as you can!

Start with ID'ing your own observations, and then, please, help out others with their observations. You learn a lot in the process!

No need to join any project or be a master naturalist or anything like that.

Observations that meet the above categories will automatically be added to these projects. :) I really hope however that Master Naturalists will curate a lot of the observations made by all.

Respect points for the daily challenges! Each day, there will be a daily challenge of something to observe. Try to get these -- Sam will respect you. :)

Tell others about this!

The more engagement, the more folks involved, the more folks engaging with nature. That's a big deal. Also, at the end of this, Sam will write up a detailed report of the relevancy of this sort of event as the results are announced on September 18, 2020.

You MUST have FUN. Required. Demanded. Spend time engaging with nature during this time!

Posted by baxter-slye baxter-slye, September 03, 2020 03:11 PM

Birders! New Tool Helps You Automatically Identify Birds You Spot, No Field Guide Needed.

Attention, birders! A new tool can help you automatically identify birds you spot, no field guide needed.

This “digital guide” is the product of a collaboration between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Swarovski Optik.

https://massivesci.com/notes/birding-digital-guide-swarovski-cornell-ebird-app/

TO FEED OR NOT TO FEED? THE DILEMMA OF INTERACTING WITH BIRDS AND OTHER WILDLIFE.

Researchers are discovering plenty of ecological impacts — positive and negative — when humans interfere with wild animals’ natural eating routines.

Writer Isabelle Groc
@isabellegroc
Freelance writer and photographer

October 24, 2019 — When she was about 8 years old, Judy Elson received a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle from her great-aunt that featured North American birds. Her relative had a passion for feeding backyard birds, and Elson has carried on the tradition for the past 30 years, in turn passing on her enjoyment and dedication to her own children. “They put together the same jigsaw puzzle I did as a child and started recognizing birds even before they knew they were interested in them,” she says. With 12 feeders in her garden in Cary, outside Raleigh, North Carolina, she observes about 50 birds per day from up to 22 different species. “I feed the birds to benefit them, but it also brings them in closer to where they are easier to see,” Elson says. “Most of my feeders are outside a bay window in my dining room where I can sit and watch the birds. That is so enjoyable and relaxing.”

https://ensia.com/features/human-feeding-birds-wildlife-impacts-migration/

The Atlantic |

URL: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/spiders-can-fly-hundreds-of-miles-using-electricity?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Accessed: 28 September 2019

SPIDERS CAN FLY HUNDREDS OF MILES USING ELECTRICITY
Scientists are finally starting to understand the centuries-old mystery of “ballooning.”

By Ed Yong

On October 31, 1832, a young naturalist named Charles Darwin walked onto the deck of the HMS Beagle and realized that the ship had been boarded by thousands of intruders. Tiny red spiders, each a millimeter wide, were everywhere. The ship was 60 miles offshore, so the creatures must have floated over from the Argentinian mainland. “All the ropes were coated and fringed with gossamer web,” Darwin wrote.

Spiders have no wings, but they can take to the air nonetheless. They’ll climb to an exposed point, raise their abdomens to the sky, extrude strands of silk, and float away. This behavior is called ballooning. It might carry spiders away from predators and competitors, or toward new lands with abundant resources. But whatever the reason for it, it’s clearly an effective means of travel. Spiders have been found two-and-a-half miles up in the air, and 1,000 miles out to sea.

This article was originally published on July 5, 2018, by The Atlantic.

New York Times

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/science/bird-populations-america-canada.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Accessed: 22 September 2019

Birds Are Vanishing From North America

The number of birds in the United States and Canada has declined by 3 billion, or 29 percent, over the past half-century, scientists find.

By Carl Zimmer
Published Sept. 19, 2019; Updated Sept. 21, 2019

The skies are emptying out.

The number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29 percent since 1970, scientists reported on Thursday. There are 2.9 billion fewer birds taking wing now than there were 50 years ago.

The analysis, published in the journal Science, is the most exhaustive and ambitious attempt yet to learn what is happening to avian populations. The results have shocked researchers and conservation organizations.

In a statement on Thursday, David Yarnold, president and chief executive of the National Audubon Society, called the findings “a full-blown crisis.”

Experts have long known that some bird species have become vulnerable to extinction. But the new study, based on a broad survey of more than 500 species, reveals steep losses even among such traditionally abundant birds as robins and sparrows.

There are likely many causes, the most important of which include habitat loss and wider use of pesticides. “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s prophetic book in 1962 about the harms caused by pesticides, takes its title from the unnatural quiet settling on a world that has lost its birds:

Just a short note to mention that your project, Denton Wild, hit 100,000 observations today, July 30, 2019. While the actual number is 99,970 as we speak, we are assuming that by midnight later today we will have passed the 100,000 observations. Congratulations to all who have participated. This includes 2,737 Observers and 3,468 Identifiers. A total of 4,163 species have been observed, identified and posted to Denton Wild as of today. We hope you're enjoying your summer, and here's wishing everyone the best.

Here's the correct link to Jennifer Linde's fifth confirmed observation for Smoky Shadowdragon in Denton County and at LLELA no less: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27475437

We congratulate Jennifer Linde who has just made her 5th confirmed iNat observation of the arguably elusive Smoky Shadowdragon (a dragonfly for the uninitiated). All of Jennifer’s observations for the species have been made at the LLELA—Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area in Lewisville, Texas. She remains the only iNat observer for this species in Denton County and all of North Texas for that matter. The link to her latest observation of Smoky Shadowdragon can be accessed here: https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications/60042243/edit

Statewide, four different Texas iNatters have made a total of 11 observations of Smoky Shadowdragon to date and Jennifer has the record thus far with the five confirmed observations as indicated. You can see the the iNat archive’s page for Texas for this species at this link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=18&subview=grid&taxon_id=106979