17 February, 2021

Backyard Bird Count

Finally joined ebird in order to contribute to this project. Don't have to contribute pictures to that so actually submitted more birds there than here and of course had to include the numbers observed too. So the 40 Sandhill Cranes that flew over got counted but didn't have my camera at the time. There were two White-breasted Nuthatches and an American Goldfinch that escaped the camera too. Considered doing the count on other days of the week end where additional species were seen but ended up just observing and shooting pictures. It sure is hard to count moving targets.

Posted on 17 February, 2021 03:49 by taogirl taogirl | 7 observations | 5 comments | Leave a comment

31 January, 2021

A Sad Good Bye to our friend Greg Lasley

I looked back to all the pictures of my visit from Greg back on May 14th and 15th of 2013. It fills me with conflicting emotions, sadness that it will never happen again and gratitude that it happened at all. He came up from Austin to go out with me to Village Creek Drying Beds in Arlington, Texas, and my local park, Arcadia Trail Park, in Fort Worth, Texas. He was so dedicated to teaching and encouraging others to become observers of the natural world around them and to document it here. He was especially knowledgeable when it came to birds and dragonflies/damselflies though no slouch with identifying many other species. He joked that after so many years as exclusively a birder, he was now "a birder gone bad".
I tried to figure out if I could connect some of the pictures from that visit here but it was too long ago to make that an easy process. He really got something started with his encouragement. All these years later I hardly ever have many days when my camera isn't trying to capture elements of my environment, anything flying, crawling, growing. It keeps me learning and trying to contribute to other people's projects to expand our knowledge of what is going on with nature wherever we are. I know he has impacted so many other people of all ages and backgrounds. He was generous with his time and knowledge, never making others feel "less than" because he knew more.
Greg and his wife Cheryl welcomed a group of us to their house near Austin many years ago. I wore my iNaturalist t shirt from that day until it was pretty worn out but I till have it. I have new ones now to celebrate iNaturalist and what it has become. My heart goes out to Cheryl and all of us who loved Greg. He was a special person, humble and honest. In gratitude, I say good bye to my friend

Posted on 31 January, 2021 21:27 by taogirl taogirl | 2 comments | Leave a comment

11 December, 2020

How to pick my ten best bird pics???

The President of my Audubon group asked me to pick ten pictures of birds I had seen in Colorado that I particularly liked to put up on our web page. This quest has lead me to review what i have observed and put on iNat in Colorado, 167 species so far. So I decided to make a google album of the best one or two pics of each species and then pick from there what to share. I always make things harder than they have to be but this is actually a fun trip down memory lane in Colorado. Sometimes I have better pictures of some of the birds but they were taken when I lived in Texas. I have decided I need to ask my kids if I ever end up in a nursing home (heaven forbid) to set up a screen for me that will rotate through all my google albums (heavily tied to being outside and observing all things natural) I feel certain that will make my last days much happier. iNat and the critters and plants observed as well as the friends I have made here have enhanced my life. A special thanks to @greglasley and @sambiology who inspired me greatly.

Posted on 11 December, 2020 19:26 by taogirl taogirl | 0 comments | Leave a comment

25 February, 2020

should read my own journal posts- setting up Confluence Park as a place on iNat

I tried to search for Confluence Park as a place and couldn't find it so assumed I had not set it up as a place so did it again. It didn't seem to work but eventually had a place that indicated observations. Well after two times, seems like it should be there.

Posted on 25 February, 2020 16:37 by taogirl taogirl | 0 comments | Leave a comment

25 October, 2018

Confluence Park, Delta, Colorado

About five minutes from my home is this wonderful park that is at the confluence of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre Rivers. Besides the rivers, the park has wetlands and a large pond. I decided today to set this park as a place on iNaturalist and start keeping track of the observations made here. For now I seem to be the only Coloradan making observations here but hope some of you out there will come join me and document the life of this park.

Posted on 25 October, 2018 05:22 by taogirl taogirl | 10 observations | 2 comments | Leave a comment

13 November, 2017

Moving to Colorado

I haven't been on iNaturalist for awhile because my time has been limited. While in Colorado this summer we decided that Delta, CO, was where we needed to live. Looking for a place to buy kept me too busy to post my observations there. We found a place. Now we are back in Fort Worth and readying our house to put it on the market. Seeing wonderful butterflies in my back yard including the Monarchs on their trip to Mexico, but no time to post observations. One of these days I will be back on iNaturalist and try to catch up on observations. Appreciate that I am getting corrections and comments on observations from the past. Cannot wait to be focused once again on nature. For now, though, onward through the fog to get back to Colorado permanently.

Posted on 13 November, 2017 20:47 by taogirl taogirl | 3 comments | Leave a comment

19 March, 2017

Northwest Community Park, Fort Worth

We met another naturalist at our usual home park, Arcadia, who told us he had recently visited Northwest Community Park and that it was a little wilder and had more wildlife. This is a fairly new park and still being developed but has handicapped accessible side walks for circling through the south side of the park for those that need that. There are dirt trails off from the main pathway in several places. The park is beside Big Fossil Creek which forms a small lake at this point. In a couple hour period we made quite a few observations The wild flowers are just beginning to come out. There is a lot more of the park that I hope to get back and explore. An old stone train bridge is at one end of the lake. There is also a fishing pier. It has very little parking which I understand is a problem on week ends but great during the week. The road into the park is not paved. I set this park up as a place on iNaturalist as best as I could so we could begin to record its life forms.

Posted on 19 March, 2017 14:06 by taogirl taogirl | 30 observations | 6 comments | Leave a comment

14 December, 2016

Osage Orange Dilemma

Yesterday I saw a woman taking all the osage orange fruit out from under this wooded area and making a pile on this disc golf course. I asked her what she was doing. She said she was cleaning up this trash. I told her this was part of the nature of the place and that there were wildlife that fed on these. She insisted that these were unsightly... In frustration I told her that there was human made trash all over the park and if she wanted to get rid of the unsightly, that would be a good place to help out. When I came back today, the pile was still there along with her bucket and a plastic bag... Guess maybe I discouraged her. Hope she takes up the idea of picking up Styrofoam cups etc. It becomes more obvious as I go along that people have very different ideas of what belongs in a natural area like a park.

Posted on 14 December, 2016 23:28 by taogirl taogirl | 1 observation | 5 comments | Leave a comment

30 August, 2016

South Fork Colorado

On the 29th during my morning walk, I ran into a man a couple times. He noticed me taking pictures of birds. When I ran into him the second time I learned that his house was the one with multiple bird feeders where I had been noticing lots of birds. He invited me to come into his yard anytime to take pictures. So added a few on this day and plan to keep an eye on his yard. He shared that he has ID'd 60 bird species in his yard over his ten years living here. He has built cages around his feeders that the smaller birds can get through but the Pinyon Jays cannot. Apparently they have a habit of coming in and knocking all the seeds on the ground for their buddies.

Posted on 30 August, 2016 18:41 by taogirl taogirl | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

04 July, 2016

South Fork Colorado

While I am loving it here and taking pictures of observations,I cannot post as my pc died in New Mexico. A new one is expected on Wednesday so will have catching up to do. A Fire tablet is not the same.

Posted on 04 July, 2016 20:28 by taogirl taogirl | 0 comments | Leave a comment