Greetings All:
In hopes that we couldn't possibly have two miserably dry, birdless,
and butterflyless years in a row and in hopes of a) getting that
danged painting done and b) getting more of my historical data entered
into eBird I decided to repeat my attempt to document 40 butterfly, 0
amphibian, 2 reptile, 80 bird, and 4 mammal species - with 90% of the
species seen/heard photographed as well.
Well, I am beginning to think I might have been wrong about this year
not being miserably dry - with nary a drop of water in my yard through
the entire month of January - but I am noting if not stubborn so here
is the sad report from the first month.
Though I missed two weekends (one chasing rarities near Dallas and one
at the TOS meeting n Galveston) I did manage to locate 0 species of
butterfly, 0 species of amphibian, 0 species of reptile, 16 species of
bird, and 1 species of mammal hitting 0%, 0%, 0%, 20%, and 25% of my
annual goals in an incredibly exciting first month! Of these
seventeen species, I managed to photograph 10, putting me at 58% of my
photographic goal.
As this report is a tad late, I know that I will have lost two
February weekends (one chasing a rarity near Uvalde and one to
volunteer work) but hope to have a great two last weekends ... or at
least get some photographs of allegedly common species that I have
thus far missed.
The list follows coded as *=new, (y) = photographed
Cackling Goose*(y)
Canada Goose*(y)
Eurasian Collared Dove*(y)
White-winged Dove*(y)
Mourning Dove*
Ring-billed Gull*
Double-crested Cormorant*
Red-tailed Hawk*(y)
Blue Jay*
American Robin*
Northern Mockingbird*
European Starling*(y)
Cedar Waxwing*
House Sparrow*(y)
House Finch*(y)
Great-tailed Grackle*(y)
Eastern Gray Squirrel*(y)
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock