Greetings All:
I'm going to give it one more try: while polishing off the historical
data for eBird I'm going to take it easy and try, once more, to have a
good year in the yard, shooting for 40 species of butterfly, 0 species
of amphibian (should be able to achieve that goal:)), 2 species of
reptile, 80 species of bird, and 4 species of mammal - with at least
90% of the critters seen photographed.
Next year, by gosh and by golly, I will do something different:)
February, as predicted was grim, as I lost the first ten days to what
I am calling The Flu (tested positive for Flu A and, boy, that one is
a doozy) and am still dealing with a rather persistent case of
bronchitis.- not many days when I felt like working in - or even
sitting out in the yard.
On the 13th, though, I saw something small in my largest brush pile,
took about a dozen shots through the window, and scored one decent
shot of a Lincoln's Sparrow. Nothing else happened until Leap Day
when an American Robin perched in my yard long enough for me to get a
shot (all other robins this year had been flyovers - that I did not
get shots of), a Northern Mockingbird dropped in to eat some rather
withered lantana berries (all other mockingbirds this year had been
heard only), and my first butterflies of the year - 2 Orange Sulphurs
- drifting through (I didn't get shots of the butterflies but they'll
be back).
All told, I spotted 1 species of butterfly, 0 species of amphibian, 0
species of reptile, 17 species of bird, and 1 species of mammal during
the month, bringing me up to 1 species of butterfly, 0 species of
amphibian, 0 species of reptile, 17 species of bird, and 1 species of
mammal for the year - 2.5%, 100%, 0%, 21.25%, and 25% of my taxonomic
goals for the year. Of the nineteen species of critter seen thus far
this year, I have photographs of eighteen (94.74%).
March will bring a lot of new stuff (if nothing else butterflies) and
I have a good shot at staying above 90% photographed through the
month. That will change when spring flyovers start in April.
The February list follows, coded as *= new, (y) = photographed:
Orange Sulphur*
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Ring-billed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-tailed Hawk
Blue Jay
American Robin(y)
Northern Mockingbird(y)
European Starling
House Sparrow
House Finch
Dark-eyed Junco
Lincoln's Sparrow*(y)
Great-tailed Grackle
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock