A good start to 2021

Been a while since I have posted to anything this year. Still I am off to a very good start. I have been roaming around a bit more to find things I have not added to my lists before. So far I have photographed my first owl which was a Great-horned Owl that I was told about out at the Village Creek Drying Beds. My friend @charley met me there and I took a few photos of it. First time I took it with my Canon Rebel T6 but when again and took a few more when I went back and took some with my Nikon Coolpix L830. I was interviewed for a new book that is coming out that a friend is working on and she I and Charley went around the place and talked and walked while we photographed the ducks and things that we found. It has been a good year. I have had a pretty slow start with the dragonflies but since it is now getting warmer I have been able to get more and more as the days go by.

Over Spring break I went out to Branson Missouri. I spent most of the trip at some of the museums but I did manage to get some wildlife and explore some caves. I got my first Salamander at one of the caves called Bluff Dwellers Caverns in Noel MO. That was a cool venture. I got to see quite a few thing that were new to me in terms of geological formations that I have never talked about in college. I also went to a place called Fantastic Caverns which was partly flooded but we did get to experience a little bit of the front of the cave which was pretty cool. We got a free fifteen minute tour but just being in that fifteen minutes makes me want to go back and explore the caves on the full thing. I am hoping to get back out there and explore more of the caves. Spanish Treasure Caverns and the Talking Rocks and Civil War Caverns are all on my next trip list. I also went to the Branson Dinosaur Museum to get an idea of what used to roam around there and get some prehistoric knowledge. I also went to the Wonders pf Wildlife Museum and Aquarium in Springfield so that was pretty fun too. I had a lot of fun doing all of that. I also did go to the Butterfly Palace which is a butterfly house that is very nice. I didn't explore a lot of nature outdoors but it was good to explore the natural history areas. I also went to the Top of the Rock Ancient Heritage Museum. At the Top of the Rock resort. Didn't stay there but it was very nice to learn about the history of the area and the surrounding areas and all. May not had a long outing but it was just enough to learn and understand the land before going back to explore some more.

I just went to Davey Dogwood Park and headed back to Gus Engeling again. I find myself going out there a lot now. Some of these places I have not been to many times I find I am going to more and more which is great. Seeing things at different times of year is always very good to do. In the long run all of this is to get ready for the next run of the City Nature Challenge. I am still working out all my exploration details but I am hoping to see some of the crew. @brentano @sambiology @kimberlietx @lulubelle @briangooding @annikaml and some of the rest. I have been pretty lonely since last year was a complete train wreck on ice skates in the middle of meteor shower mixed with a dumpster fire. That was hard on all of us. I didn't get to see too many people I knew that year except on the remote channels. Still it is what it is. Still I am hoping that this year's CNC is good. I mean I had my family to travel with like I always do during this time we turn it into a family thing when I am going around. I have tested my gear. My nets, my mothing light that will make its mothing debut to the outside world and not just my backyard. I am actually going to make it have my own personal flair and I am going to put half a Stargate around it from the Stargate movies, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Universe, and Stargate Atlantis series and franchise. I will not have that until the summer. I am going to add it as a counter weight sot that way the thing doesn't try and topple. I hear people call them UFOs and things and since I am a bit of a sci-fi nerd well wild horses being chased by Rancors and Wampa Ice creatures and wild Tyrannosaurus won't stop me. Hey got to live up to this Galactic_Bug_man name or it means nothing. Still that is going to be a bit of a side project this year. I will be getting that ready for National Moth Week. Anyhow, I just got a new supply of petri dishes early on. I always have to get a couple before these CNC ventures for I always break a good portion of them. I have cleared up a lot of data on my data cards and what not so I can take a truck load of images. I do need to supply myself with a few more batteries since I have that new Light ring for my camera which I will use during these next few events. Thing drains after so often so it is good to always have spares. I have all my gear working and will take the Nikon Coolpix L830 for a spin again. I have been using it more to get different shots and to kind of mix it up since it still works. I like working with all my stuff.

So yeah that seems to be the skinny as of now. I have been getting some great things. I just got an American Goldfinch in it's breeding colors right in my backyard which was a shock and surprise to me. I would have never seen that is I was not up early yesterday. I have been busy with Photography class and my Philosophy classes but all is going well. Has not been to rough. It has been very good these last few weeks. I cant' wait until summer. I am going to be doing a lot of volunteer work and some more travel like I have been doing. I have summer plans to make for Georgia since my brother and I want to go. I have gotten my Covid-19 vaccination like the rest of my family but still not taking any unnecessary risks when I am traveling. Still going strong and gaining new knowledge every day and always on the move. This year has been proving harder to get Volunteer Hours but to get observations has been a breeze at times but then there are times when home life gets a bit harder to work around. Still I get out when I can and that is good enough for me. I have been getting a ton of insects and stuff and have been working to get more species and so far exceeding in numbers. I don't really have a set goal for this year. I am just going to be a leaf on the wind and see where things take me this year. It will be quite interesting to see what I turn up for the rest of the year.

Publicado el abril 13, 2021 03:37 MAÑANA por galactic_bug_man galactic_bug_man

Comentarios

Sounds like you have been pretty busy already this year. Me too is looking forward to see some of "my iNat peeps" during the CNC, it has been too long! See you at the end of April! :-)

Publicado por annikaml hace casi 3 años

I will be looking for you. :)

Publicado por galactic_bug_man hace casi 3 años

I am off til May 6, so we can definitely meet somewhere for the city nature challenge if you want! I have missed seeing you!,

Publicado por lulubelle hace casi 3 años

@lulubelle I would love too. I am going to be free that Friday and Monday for the first part of the days. Saturday and Sunday are the days were I go a bit farther and I have a meeting at Stovall Park with the Bee City Arlington Committee I am part of now. I have been with them since last year and this will be the first time this groups is meeting up. Still that will be great. I was thinking about going to the Drying Beds soon maybe we could meet there early on in the morning if you wanted to do that on either Friday or Monday.

Publicado por galactic_bug_man hace casi 3 años

I loved reading about the caves. I've never visited any caves in that area but would love to.

Publicado por nanotyrannus hace casi 3 años

"...last year was a complete train wreck on ice skates in the middle of meteor shower mixed with a dumpster fire." I could not have said it better, and I'm pretty sure I've tried. I won't be intentionally participating in the CNC this year, but I'm sure I'll be out and taking photos of something somewhere anyway! I've got several projects going on and just couldn't take on the exhausting week of CNC on top of it all. Wishing you lots of luck and some great new species!!

Publicado por kimberlietx hace casi 3 años

@nanotyrannus There are a lot of good ones in Missouri. They have a whole bunch of neat ones. I went to two of them but have marked a bunch of the ones I have not seen I would like to go back to. I want to go to the Mammoth Cave which is the granddaddy of them in US. I love caves and love exploring them. They used to give me the willies when I was young but as I grew up I began to find them interesting and now I am just a cave loving freak. In my life I have never encountered something I don't want to learn about in nature. I am always wanting to learn about nature in any way shape form or fashion. I always live life with an open heart and mind and even with full curiosity.

Publicado por galactic_bug_man hace casi 3 años

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