Nature Note #100: Busy Bee
It's my 100th post on here! Woohoo!
Apologies for not having posted until the middle of the month, but I have been hard at work getting a summer job, carving owls, and trying to to freeze while being outside. I suppose the best place to start would be to inform you all how I'm doing on my year list.
As of today, I have 75 species and have about 33% of the species that I saw last year! Last year I saw about 226 species and am hoping to either meet or exceed that number. I look forward to migration and dread the "warbler neck", but to meet the goal, it must be done! With all the Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) puttering around I've managed to get five this year already and am more or less done with them. I wanted to find a Barn Owl (Tyto alba) that had been reported in Sachuest Point NWR in Rhode Island, but it didn't show. I had hoped for a Short-eared (Asio flammeus) or a Long-eared (A. otus) at some point, but so far they've evaded me as well.
But while other (live) owls have evaded me, I have compensated by carving some of my own. In my spare time before starting at my new job in Horsham, PA, I've carved a Long-eared Owl for myself and a Northern Hawk-Owl (Surnia ulula) for Alison (my girlfriend) for her birthday. Both were carved from basswood (Tilia spp.) that was cut out on the bandsaw, carved with a Mora knife, sanded, and then painted with acrylics. Depending on how busy I am with jobs and pursuing school, I might open a side business selling these owls, but we'll see.
The Long-eared Owl took about a week of on and off carving, an hour of sanding, and about two days of painting. I've since fixed the beak to make it look less blocky.
The Northern Hawk-Owl took approximately 15-20 hours to complete over the last two days and is a combination birthday and Valentine's Day present for Alison. When I initially carved and sanded it down, it looked more like a Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium spp.) than a Hawk-Owl, but as soon as I added paint to it, it really came to life! I look forward to making a Great Horned Owl (B. virginianus) for a college friend and carve a mini eagle for a friend whose in the Marines.
To make up not spending much time out in the cold temperatures, I've been reading two books that are just wonderful reads. The first is Mariposa Road by Michael Robert Pyle which centers around his 2008 big year to see not the most bird species in the year (that is so 1998), but instead the most butterfly species! This is a pretty cool idea considering how many butterflies there are in North America and while it is longer than the Prisoner of Azkaban (I checked), it is a pretty speedy read chapter to chapter as he describes his journey to find not only his beloved butterflies, but also to visit national parks, public lands, butterfly gardens, as well as wonderful family friends and colleagues.
The other book that has yielded me several "ah-ha" moments was a book I received as a birthday present from Alison entitled Who's Whos in the Natural World by Kay Fairweather. The book covers the authors observations from her hometown of Carlisle, MA and the creatures, flora, and fungi that inhabit this small New England town. After reading about the Diurnal Firefly (Ellychnia corrusca), I realized that this was the beetle I'd seen in the early spring for so many years and I'd never realized it was a firefly! I also came to recognize a mystery moss I had found this winter both during the Christmas Bird Count and recently on a visit to some trails in Taunton. The moss (pictured below) belongs to the genus Usnea and is related to Old Man's Beard. Any book that allows me to identify mosses, insects, and other organisms I have trouble identifying is an excellent find.
Hopefully I'll update again before the end of the month to inform y'all of my ramblings, so until we meet again, safe travels and I hope winter ends soon.
Apologies for not having posted until the middle of the month, but I have been hard at work getting a summer job, carving owls, and trying to to freeze while being outside. I suppose the best place to start would be to inform you all how I'm doing on my year list.
As of today, I have 75 species and have about 33% of the species that I saw last year! Last year I saw about 226 species and am hoping to either meet or exceed that number. I look forward to migration and dread the "warbler neck", but to meet the goal, it must be done! With all the Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) puttering around I've managed to get five this year already and am more or less done with them. I wanted to find a Barn Owl (Tyto alba) that had been reported in Sachuest Point NWR in Rhode Island, but it didn't show. I had hoped for a Short-eared (Asio flammeus) or a Long-eared (A. otus) at some point, but so far they've evaded me as well.
But while other (live) owls have evaded me, I have compensated by carving some of my own. In my spare time before starting at my new job in Horsham, PA, I've carved a Long-eared Owl for myself and a Northern Hawk-Owl (Surnia ulula) for Alison (my girlfriend) for her birthday. Both were carved from basswood (Tilia spp.) that was cut out on the bandsaw, carved with a Mora knife, sanded, and then painted with acrylics. Depending on how busy I am with jobs and pursuing school, I might open a side business selling these owls, but we'll see.
The Long-eared Owl took about a week of on and off carving, an hour of sanding, and about two days of painting. I've since fixed the beak to make it look less blocky.
To make up not spending much time out in the cold temperatures, I've been reading two books that are just wonderful reads. The first is Mariposa Road by Michael Robert Pyle which centers around his 2008 big year to see not the most bird species in the year (that is so 1998), but instead the most butterfly species! This is a pretty cool idea considering how many butterflies there are in North America and while it is longer than the Prisoner of Azkaban (I checked), it is a pretty speedy read chapter to chapter as he describes his journey to find not only his beloved butterflies, but also to visit national parks, public lands, butterfly gardens, as well as wonderful family friends and colleagues.
The other book that has yielded me several "ah-ha" moments was a book I received as a birthday present from Alison entitled Who's Whos in the Natural World by Kay Fairweather. The book covers the authors observations from her hometown of Carlisle, MA and the creatures, flora, and fungi that inhabit this small New England town. After reading about the Diurnal Firefly (Ellychnia corrusca), I realized that this was the beetle I'd seen in the early spring for so many years and I'd never realized it was a firefly! I also came to recognize a mystery moss I had found this winter both during the Christmas Bird Count and recently on a visit to some trails in Taunton. The moss (pictured below) belongs to the genus Usnea and is related to Old Man's Beard. Any book that allows me to identify mosses, insects, and other organisms I have trouble identifying is an excellent find.
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