Diario de vermfly

I led a small group for a nature walk on this fine May morning. Our eBird list records 35 species. I also showed the group how I used iNaturalist. Attached to this journal are the associated observations.

Here are my goals for this year. Some are eBird related and others are more linked to iNaturalist.

1. eBird: Participate in the 2019 5-Mile Radius Challenge. My goal is to get at least 175 species in my patch.
2. eBird: Get all of the eBird Hotspots in my 5-Mile Radius patch up to at least 50 species.
3. eBird: Have at least 1 checklist a day and move my Complete checklists to over 3500.
4. eBird: Complete all monthly challenges.
5. eBird: Identify over 300 birds this year.
6. iNat: Participate in the City Nature Challenge Sacramento Region with at least 1000 observations.
7. iNat: Organize a Bioblitz for at least one day of the CNC.
8. iNat: Observe at least 5 new mammal species this year.
9. iNat: Get the Koobs Nature Area up to 500 observations and 200 species.

10. Sign up for the class to become a Certified California Naturalist.
    http://calnat.ucanr.edu/Take_a_class/

I'm so stoked for this news. The last few years I've gone to the Bay Area to help out with the CNC there but now I will get to help in my own backyard. The area is very large and includes Sacramento, Yolo, San Joaquin, Sutter, Yuba, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, and Amador counties. The variety of habitats is amazing.

When I helped with the Bay Area on the City Nature Challenge I noticed that certain areas are often neglected. Fish especially. We'll have a variety of aquatic habitats from Lake Tahoe to the Delta. I'm already working to join some fishing Facebook groups to recruit some fisherman to record as many fish species as possible. There are so many more things to think about as April inches slowly closer. The next few months are going to be tough to tamp down the anticipation.

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-sacramento-region

I have some organisms that need names. Some recent and some back to my early time on iNaturalist. If you can clear some of these please help.

http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/vermfly?captive=&created_on=&d1=&d2=&day=&filter_spam=false&filters_open=true&geoprivacy=&hrank=&identifications=any&list_id=&lrank=&month=&nelat=&nelng=&order=desc&order_by=observations.id&page=2&place_id=&q=&quality_grade=needs_id&rank=&reviewed=&search_on=&site=&swlat=&swlng=&taxon_id=&taxon_ids%5B%5D=&taxon_name=&tdate=&user_id=3057&utf8=%E2%9C%93&view=table&viewer=3057&year=

I was checking out my profile page and noted that my stats hit several cool milestones. Observations passed 500, my species total is now 400, and I have made over 2,500 identifications. I'm enjoying using iNaturalist more and more.

I was inspired by a journal posted by @marknenadov earlier this week. I've set goals for my birding but I've never set any broader goals as a naturalist. Lots of them are still bird related.

1. Create a full slate of birding field trips for the Central Valley Bird Club.
2. Complete an eBird checklist per day.
3. Complete the eBirder of the Month challenges.
4. Get my bird lists to 100 in every California county.
5. Get all my California county checklists into eBird as historical lists.
6. Get my state bird life list over 475 species.
7. Visit my last two California counties.
8. Enter 365 observations on iNaturalist in the year.
9. See a black bear and enter it in iNaturalist.
10. Enter 10 new species of mammals for me into iNaturalist.
11. Organize a mini iNaturalist BioBlitz for the Koobs Nature Center project site.
12. Get a fishing license and try microfishing.

I think those are solid goals for now. I have been keeping up with the daily eBird checklists so far for the year but I have fallen behind on iNaturalist observations. I imagine that will be more of a situation where I don't do it all the time but then I catch up by doing 20 in a day. To anyone reading this what are some of your goals for 2017?