Diario de friendofnature2

Young goslings and ducklings are now on their own, swimming about in the lakes and ponds apart from their mothers. Canada geese and wood duck mothers still swim along with their young, but more and more are allowing the next generation to find their way. The young common and hooded mergansers are still fluffy and small. The young wood ducks appear as miniatures of their mother.

Tiny toads and silver-dollar sized turtles are out and about, without the leadership of parents to find their way. Adult garter snakes were abundant around the ponds, taking advantage of the easy protein of the young toads that were new to dry land.

The next generations are finding their way. As parents, we try to model for our children how to be successful, hoping that they will have meaningful lives that are enjoyable to them. My oldest child has less than 500 days now until she is 18 years old, the age society considers our young to be adults. To imagine how challenging it must be for a toad, turtle, or young snake to find its way without parental help.
I am encouraged by the maturity of my children and their love for the environment.

Earlier this week I met a group of young scientists who encouraged me with their interest in the environment, specifically fish ecology. They were visiting our local state fish hatchery and learning about Michigan's Arctic Grayling Initiative. They will be the ones to carry on the work of inspiring future generations to care for our planet. They will be the professors and teachers of our children in colleges and agencies around the world.

As seasons change and time continues, may we always be people of compassion, kindness, love for our world and those who are finding their way in life's journey.

Dear I-Naturalist Community,

I have read articles about how I-naturalist was used by scientists to see downward trends in population size amongst starfish on the pacific coast. Now we have an opportunity to make observations count toward the iconic Monarch Butterfly. I quickly took note of how many observations have been made over the past 10 years in Michigan.

In 2012, only 12 observations of Monarch Butterflies were made by 5 observers for I-naturalist in Michigan

Since then, the number of observers and observations were:

2013 only 6 observations by 4 observers
2014 there were 30 observations of monarchs posted
2015 there were 35 observations of monarchs posted
2016 there were 35 observations of monarchs posted
2017 there were 144 observations of monarchs posted
2018 there were 489 observations of monarchs posted
2019 there were 874 observations of monarchs posted
2020 there were 869 observations of monarchs posted
2021 there were 990 observations of monarchs posted by 500 observers!

This year the monarch butterflies were placed on the endangered species list. Michigan currently only has 192 observations made by 144 observers this year. It would be great to see over 1000 observations in Michigan for 2022. It would be awesome to have over 500 observers post monarch butterfly pictures this year. There is a lot we can do to help monarch butterflies, with an easy first step being to go out and record where they are. I-naturalist is such an awesome, easy tool to use. The information can be used by scientists who cannot be everywhere in Michigan at one time.

Last year our family had 19 observations of Monarchs by July 23rd, and they were incidental observations, not trips to find monarchs. This year we only have one observation of a monarch and haven't seen a caterpillar yet. It could be site specific on our part, but that is a large change in our family's observations. I could not believe that I was so unaware of its drastic decline out west. Hopefully in Michigan we can do our part to help it be brought back to prior numbers. It would be great to see lots of posts in Michigan for Monarchs on I-naturalist. Best Regards, Friendofnature2.