October Review and my Winter Outlook.
Well another month has come and gone. I found a bunch of cool stuff last month on my adventures. The 20th was a cool day I helped out with a BioBlitz out in Dallas County with @sambiology and @wildcarrot @k8thegr8 and a few others. I met up with Sam and his wife and we met up at Harry S Moss and we found a ton of pollinators and things. I was able to get the Great Purple Hairstreak on my life list at last. There was a bunch of cool things to be found that day and later that night we headed over to Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center (which is one of my normal hang outs) and did a moth night which was a very interesting one. It was jacket weather and not much was getting attracted to the Moth lights except for a bunch of Army Worm moths but when we would not be watching the traps we would go looking around the area and look at the trees and the ground for some observations. Good thing we did because we saw a bunch of Brown Recluse spiders, a few Flat-backed Millipedes, a Striped Bark Scorpion, and a whole mess of caterpillars. There was a ton of Caterpillars that night. We saw a Swallowtail Cat, a Unicorn Prominent, and several others. After that night I have just been running into caterpillars and things left and right. I did a lot of solo adventures during October. I went to River Legacy a couple of times before and after their Park After Dark festival I got to take my first photo of a Common Eastern Firefly and a couple of new moths. I was also able to get a Snowberry Clearwing. So I had a ton of new lifers to my list that month. I have been having such a good run this year even though It has been a difficult year otherwise since the death of my grandmother who you might remember died of Stage Three vaginal cancer back in August which has been so hard on all of us here in the Chapman household. I am pushing on to get as many as I can in her honor and so far I have made 5106 since the start of November. I am now working on to getting 6000 to end my year and hoping to get a little extra to get me on my way to 7000 by the start of 2019. I have a few things lined up for my last big hurrah. We might be planning to got to the coast for a little birding trip and that will lead us going back to the Port Aransas area which I want to go back to so that way I can try my hand and get some better photos coastal birds and to try and get a few shots of the highly endangered Whooping Cranes. I am looking forward to it but right now there are no guarantees that we will be able to do it but we have it in the works so maybe it will come off with out a hitch. I am just hoping that we will be able to do it so that way I can add a few more birds to my life list. I have to admit I have barely got any new ones on my life list. I have not done a lot of spring birding that much during the March, April, and May Months. I know it is not like me but I have been more focused on the insects and things I often forget to look up anymore. I am thinking about going to a few old birding spots this year to see if anything new turns up. There is a place out in Flower Mound that I have been too only once that has some cool stuff on occasion. I am also thinking about going to my old college campus which is TCC Southeast Campus to see if there are any new things to the old pond out there. I love to go out there and look around at the wildlife out there even though it is nowhere near as diverse as the TCC South Campus. I have to admit they do get quite a few different things but TCC South is far more diverse in more ways. I am also going to keep my eyes and ears open for those rare bird alerts which I am sure that some of my friends will be reminding me of like @lulubelle she is one I can always count on to give me the skinny on rare bird sightings. I hear it is going to be a very cold winter from what certain sources say and if that is so then we might be in for a few more Snowy Owls. We have had a couple come through the last two years and that is one I would love to go and see this year if one does decide to fly down here for a while. I have a few more chances to get my observations up even if I don't make it to 6000 I have really done a lot. I have knocked out 4000 observations this year a lone. I have seen a whole bunch of stuff this year and to add I found a new genus for Texas which was really cool. So there is a lot that I have done and there are still a few places that I would like to try and visit sometime this winter. I will just have to see where the road takes me. INaturalist has been a good tool to help me cope with my loss maybe that is why I am having such big numbers because I have been out more trying to relieve stress and pain from my grandmother's illness and her unfortunate passing. I really miss her on my adventures but I do believe that she is up there looking down at me and going everywhere I go seeing the things I am seeing. So she is never truly gone but it still is sad that she is not with us physically. I miss her so much some days it is hard because I remember things she said and did and even some of the songs I listen too bring back memories of her so nature has been a bigger part of my life this year due to our loss. Nature is the best at times like these. It takes your mind off of stuff and always gives you peace of mind and a chance to discover something new. Well I better wrap this up until next time this is Zachary Chapman signing off.
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