jamesjarrett00's Journal

As of this date there are 3893 species I have not observed in Idaho. My goal is to reduce that to under 3000. Added to all the other missions I have.

My goals for 2023 were,
To help Christi complete her counties of Idaho.
1000 research grade species on iNaturalist.
To add at least 10 new species each in Mammals, Birds, Fish, Amphibians & Reptiles plus at least 25 new plants & insects on iNaturalist.
350 lifetime bird species. (23 new species for the year)
300 lifetime birds for Idaho. (Need 29 new species)
A checklist every day on Ebird and an observation every day on iNaturalist.
As my goals for 2023 were big, I did not meet all my goals, but I feel I still had a very good year. I did help Christi get one more county. I made 8540 observations with 5559 of them being research grade (65.1%) on 2 January 2024. With a goal of 1000 research grade species, I only had 792 species research grade, 79.2%.
I added 21 new bird species to iNaturalist but only added 5 fish, 4 mammals, 3 amphibians, and 2 reptiles. Not so productive there. I did add 52 species of insects and 80 species of plants, at least doubling my goals in both those areas.
I added seven species to my life list of birds but lost a species also. My life list is now 333. I added Pine Grosbeak, Swamp Sparrow, Ancient Murrelet, Dickcissel, Upland Sandpiper, Plumbeous Vireo, and White-throated Sparrow. The Cordilleran and Pacific-slope Flycatchers were lumped back into the Western Flycatcher. I needed 29 new species in Idaho to get to the total of 300. I found 8, they are the Pine Grosbeak, Swamp Sparrow, Ancient Murrelet, Dickcissel, White-throated Sparrow, Pygmy Nuthatch, Juniper Titmouse, and Tricolored Blackbird.
I had at least one checklist everyday on Ebird for a total of 1502 checklists and I posted at least one observation a day on iNaturalist. Goal met!
My Goals for 2024
350 lifetime bird species. (Need 17 new species)
300 lifetime birds for Idaho. (Need 21 new species)
500 New research grade species on iNaturalist (Especially a Newt/Salamander)
Improve my research grade percentage on fungi. 2023 was 12.3% with 14 species reaching research grade.
A nice new large carnivore such as a bear, wolf, or large cat would be nice too.

My goals for 2022 were,
250 species of birds observed in the year.
350 lifetime species of birds. I started with 317.
See 25 species of birds in each of Idaho’s 44 counties.
1000 taxa on iNaturalist.

I completed my goal of 250 species for the year on 16 November, with the Pacific Wren being bird 250. I got one more species later that day with the Pacific Loon to finish the year at 251. I missed my goal of getting to 350 lifetime species by the end of the year. I needed to add 33 species and only added 10. They were the Common Redpoll, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Long-tailed Duck, Verdin, Lark Bunting, Gray Partridge, Blue Grosbeak, Wandering Tattler, Surf Scoter, and Yellow-throated Warbler. I did not get 25 species in all 44 counties of Idaho. I did get at least one species in every county and 32 of 44 counties had at least 25 species seen, almost 73%. Canyon County had the most with 174 species and Teton County had the least with 3 species. I completed the 1000 taxa uploaded to iNaturalist on 6 August. I finished the year with 5638 observations, 1,222 species with 774 of those being research grade.

My goals for 2023 are,
To help Christi complete her counties of Idaho.
1000 research grade species on iNaturalist.
To add at least 10 new species each in Mammals, Birds, Fish, Amphibians & Reptiles plus at least 25 new plants & insects on iNaturalist.
350 lifetime bird species. (23 new species for the year)
300 lifetime birds for Idaho. (Need 29 new species)
A checklist every day on Ebird and an observation every day on iNaturalist.

Setting out on the 1st day of the month to find something interesting, I went looking for Bobolinks. There is really only one location nearby for that species. As I got to the road that they are found on, I pulled off the road to start my list. There next to where I parked is a double gate with posted signs on it and a cable lock. Something I have seen before, but this time there is a Black-billed Magpie hanging from the lock or gate, I can't quite tell. I thought it was dead so I finished getting my bird list ready. As I did that the wing moved, so I got some gloves I keep in the truck and went to check it out. As I got closer, it got squirmy but couldn't go anywhere. I gently slid it up the gap in the gate. When I got it to the top, it griped at me for taking so long to get there and flew off into the deep grass. Likely to hide in shame for being dumb enough to get his head stuck. Sadly no pictures, but another species in the hand.

So this is my 1st attempt at doing a journal. Yesterday I made the trip from Boise to Lowman to Banks to Emmett to Caldwell. Started my day observing bird banding in Boise, always a fun time listening to the very knowledgeable banding crew and learning more. Then my wife and I headed out on our own. Heading to the high country always changes the bird species observed and we had not gone this year. These trips also remind me that the butterfly species in the valley are so limited when compared to the mountains. Just making this trip gave me 8 species of birds I had not seen this year including the Steller's Jay and Cassin's Finch. As an added bonus I photographed 4 new species of butterfly for me. Granted the Stella Orangetip is just a horrible picture and Two-tailed Swallowtail doesn't actually show the tails but I was very happy to get home and discover the Milbert's Tortoiseshell was something new as was the Clodius Parnassian. So I need to remember to change my scenery to change my species list.

Update: Thanks to an individual on Inaturalist I can add one more. Edith's Checkerspot