Achievement Unlocked: My First Mega!

How did you do on your goals for 2018? I managed to complete one of mine in the last few weeks of the year: to spot (and log on eBird) at least 150 different bird species. Yay! My 150th bird wasn’t exactly ordinary, either: a species that’s only been seen in the US one other time. That’s what birders call a mega rarity, or mega. Although I’ve been birding for several decades now, this is the first mega I’ve ever chased.

I’ve seen locally rare birds before, like the Snowy Owls that occasionally make their way south to the mid-Atlantic area. But megas are another level. The American Birding Association (ABA) classifies birds in six levels, or codes, of rarity for the U.S. and Canada.

• Codes 1 and 2: Regularly occurring North American birds.
• Code 1 species are widespread and usually numerous.
• Code 2 species are harder to find because their range is restricted, there are fewer of them, or they are very secretive.
• Code 3: Rare. These species occur in very low number, but show up annually in the ABA checklist area. Some are visitors, others are year-round residents.
• Code 4: Casual. These species are usually not observed every year, but have been recorded six or more times, including three or more in the past 30 years. That way a pattern can be discerned.
• Code 5: Accidental. These are species that have been recorded five or fewer times in the ABA area, or have fewer than three records in the past 30 years. Because of the infrequency of sightings, birds in this group don’t seem to have a pattern of when/why they show up in our area.
• Code 6: Cannot be found. Species in this group are probably or actually extinct or extirpated from the ABA area, or else all survivors are in captivity.

Of course, each bird species has its own range and preferred habitat, and that may not include all of the ABA territory. So a lot of code 1 or code 2 birds would be exceedingly rare outside of their normal territory, for example finding a code 1 Juniper Titmouse here in suburban Maryland. Generally, though, the higher code birds are harder to find.

The bird that put me at 150 species for the year, a Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga), is in the coveted code 5 group. The first time one was seen in the US was in April, 2018, on South Padre Island in Texas. After that, one was found in Maine in August, then seen sporadically until it showed up in Portland in late November. At that point it settled into Deering Oaks Park, a small city park with a multitude of very well-fed squirrels. It even turns out that the Texas and Maine birds are the same individual, with an identical pattern of flecks on the underside of the bird’s wings, as described in BirdWatching.  Now that’s one far-traveling bird—from its normal range in central or South America to Texas, and then all the way up to Maine!

I know several birders who drove from my area all the way to Maine just for the chance to see this hawk. Seeing the bird wasn’t my primary reason for going to Portland this winter, though—I was heading up to visit family for Christmas.

Our trip almost didn’t happen, though. A week before we were supposed to drive up, I developed an extremely painful kidney infection. Ow! I had to go to urgent care while visiting my mom in Florida, and got put on some heavy-duty antibiotics. They couldn’t work fast enough for our next trip to Maine, though, I still wasn’t well enough a week later, when we had planned to drive up. I knew I was truly sick when even the thought of seeing such a rare bird wasn’t tempting.

But we did make it to Maine, only a few days late. I owe a huge thanks to my wonderful husband for doing all of the driving. Thanks, hon!

Anyway, we were busy with family celebrations all day on Christmas, but I kept checking the Cumberland county rare bird alerts, following other birders’ accounts of their sightings and hoping the hawk would still be there the next day.

My first try for the bird was not successful. Victor, my sister Cory, and I drove over to Deering Oaks about 10:00 am, late by most birding standards. We wandered the park, peering up into every tree and shrub, but no luck. A few other groups of birders were there too, some with really high-powered scopes and cameras. One birder pointed out a Red-tailed Hawk in some nearby trees, but nobody had found the Great Black Hawk. We decided to go elsewhere, and maybe try for the hawk again later.

I love that the city posted these signs all over the park, helping ensure folks treated the bird respectfully. The numbers to call in case you observed the hawk in distress are a nice touch too.

The second time we looked for the bird, after some lunch with my dad, luck was finally in our favor. The hawk had been found by others by the time we got to the park. It was easy to spot, by the huge cluster of birders admiring it from a short distance away. The hawk was perched in a tree beside the main road, and seemed totally unfazed by cars driving past mere feet away. A jogger even ran right under its perch, and the hawk seemed only barely curious. It probably had just eaten, and was still feeling the food coma. (Who knew birds got food comas like we do?)

Unfortunately, I had left my camera at home in Maryland. Arrgh! However, a very kind birder who was allowing passersby to look at the bird through his scope, also let me take a hasty digiscoped photo with my cell phone. It’s not the greatest, but hopefully good enough for proof.

The famous Great Black Hawk, perched about 15 feet above the sidewalk.

What a cool experience. Nobody knows how long the Great Black Hawk will stick around. Will Maine’s frigid winter weather be too much for this bird? If it decides to move on, where will it show up next? So much mystery still surrounds it.

If you want to see uncommon birds like the Great Black Hawk, you can sign up for rare bird alerts on eBird-- either for the whole ABA range, or just for a particular county, state or province. You'll need a free eBird account, easy to create if you don't have one already. Then eBird will email you daily or hourly (your choice) about any reported rarities in the area(s) you select.  Although I’d never chased a rarity before, I had such fun seeing this one I set myself a goal to see two more rarities this year. Wish me luck!

By the way, I finished my antibiotics a few days after seeing the Great Black Hawk, and am back to 100 percent.

My Gardening Goals for 2017

After reviewing what I did wrong in my garden this year, I’ve already started planning what I want to try next year. Honestly I think the planning phase is one of my favorite parts of gardening. I get to imagine all the wonderful perfect veggies I imagine will come out of my garden, and of course in my imagination I have no troubles with overscheduling, pests, or unexpected weather issues!

A late season harvest from 2014, one of the best years so far for my garden.

My goals for next year fall into three main groups: techniques I want to try or continue; specific crops I want to grow; and results & motivational hopes.

Garden Planning & Techniques to try

I was definitely happy with growing separate crops in the “shoulder” fall and spring seasons this year, even if I didn’t get it perfect. Actually, I got the summer crops cleared out enough to plant my fall lettuce on time, but was then foiled by late warm weather in October and November. The lettuce actually bolted (went to seed) in mid November! Arrgh, so much for fresh fall and winter salads. Next year.

My tall, bitter lettuce after it switched into flowering mode.

So to improve next year, I need to be prepared to put up spring crops for storage if I haven’t consumed them all fresh by the time I need to plant for the summer. For example, I could make batches of yummy kale chips (which I've been meaning to try anyway), or quick-freeze kale to put it in soups and stir-fries later. Another way I might make sure I don’t have the same problem next summer is to plant my early crops in a separate bed that isn’t also supposed to grow summer crops. Then when the spring crops come out (whether that’s on time or not), I could plant that bed with a quick-growing cover crop to keep down weeds until it’s time to plant late fall crops.

Speaking of cover crops, that’s something I’ve been meaning to try for years. Again I run into the difficulty of having to pull my summer or fall crops while they are still producing. That probably is one of my biggest challenges in gardening! I can’t bear to rip out plants that might still give me more harvest if I just let them stay in the ground. I might be able to interplant a fall cover crop around the lingering summer tomatoes, though. That still means I need to at least order the seeds on time, which I didn’t do this year. I never got around to actually ordering any cover crop seeds, although I did spend quite a bit of time reading about them and planning what combination I’d like. If I do an early spring cover crop where the majority of my summer tomatoes, etc. will go, I might try fava beans. I love eating fresh favas when I can find them in the grocery store. I’ve read it’s good to mix a deep-rooted grain in there as well, such as rye. We’ll see; I have a lot more time to dream and plan this winter and peruse my favorite seed catalogs. As always, I'll make sure to list ideas in my garden journal. Maybe starting now and creating a calendar reminder for when to order seeds for a cover crop will help me finally achieve this goal!

Some of my favorite seed catalogs. I can't wait until this year's arrive!

So all those are fairly practical, realistic techniques to try. The most far-fetched goal I have for next year’s garden is to build a squash or cucumber archway, like this one I saw on Pinterest.  How fun would that be to be able to walk down an archway and see fruit dangling through the wire mesh? I think it would probably be a significant amount of work to build one, though, especially since I don’t have any raised beds yet that would serve as a base. I love the idea, though, so we’ll see what kind of time and energy and funds I have available this spring and summer.

Seeds and varieties to add or change

As for the actual seeds I order, over the last few years I’ve been trying to buy mostly heirloom varieties. It wasn’t because I dislike the bigger seed companies or want pure strains for saving seeds, I just really enjoy the feeling of being connected to previous generations who grew the very same variety. (I’ve dreamed of saving my own seeds, and do once in a while, but usually not for the more expensive heirlooms I’ve been buying like tomatoes.)

However, I’ve had smaller tomato and sweet pepper harvests than I wanted the past few years. Some of that is certainly my fault and/or due to weather, but I also suspect the varieties I’m choosing have generally smaller yields than modern hybrids would. Some heirloom varieties I’ll keep no matter what because I love their unique flavor, like the Cherokee Purple tomatoes from this summer and the Hot Lemon hot peppers that I've grown the past few years. (The hot peppers also are heavy yielding, so no complaints there.) Other than those, the heirlooms I’ve tried haven’t made up for small harvests with an overwhelmingly fantastic flavor. So next year I will probably try growing more hybrids in hopes of  a bigger harvest. As mentioned in my garden year wrap-up (linked above), I may also try an early-yielding variety to spread my season out a bit more. All the heirloom tomatoes I’ve been growing have fairly long days-to-maturity. For example, Cherokee Purples are listed at 80 days to maturity.

My fall tomatoes ripening on the counter. The round, dark ones at the back are Cherokee Purples.

I plan to try again to grow some of the seeds I ordered for 2016 but never planted, such as winter squash, cucumbers and cantaloupe.  (Maybe one or more of those will go over my archway trellis!) I missed having winter squash from the garden this year.

I also found I dearly missed my annual fall ritual of spending a few afternoons shelling beans. I love eating fresh shell beans as well as drying them for longer storage. So I’ve got to make room for beans in my 2017 garden. I enjoyed growing red beans last year, but found they were smaller than the Borlotto or Cranberry beans I used to grow, like this one.  I will grow those fat meaty beans again in 2017, and make sure I build tall enough trellises for their vines (six feet or more!).

Borlotto beans are delicious and gorgeous to boot!

In my flower beds, I want to try a couple things different from this year. I’d like to find room for some Tithonia, or Mexican Sunflower. Their bright orange daisy-like blooms seem to be magnets for butterflies at Brookside Gardens, especially Monarchs. I also want to plant more milkweed, but place it at the edge of one of my beds so it's more easily accessible. This year’s milkweed ended up getting lost in the center of the bed, so I couldn’t see whether I ever had monarch caterpillars. I should also try to get more than just a couple plants so I have a big patch of the milkweed, easily seen by butterflies cruising overhead. I may create  an entire bed that's just milkweed, for that matter. We'll see how much room I have.

American Lady enjoying the Tithonia at Brookside Gardens

I did enjoy the zinnias I grew this summer, but oddly enough the only colors that germinated were pink, orange, and white (from a seed mix packet—there should also have been reds and yellows in there). Hmm. I didn’t see a lot of butterfly activity on the zinnias but I was really busy much of the summer. I’m undecided on whether I’ll grow them again.

Results I’m aiming for-- Lots to put up!

As I mentioned in my wrap-up, I hardly stored anything from the garden this year. I didn’t really have time or energy to actually make a batch of tomato sauce even if I had a big enough crop, but I still hope to be able to do so next summer. If nothing else I could make a batch in my slow cooker while I’m at work. I also hope to pickle some cucumbers, store some winter squash, and of course dry some of my shell beans for cold weather soups.

So now that I’ve gotten my goals organized, I get to do the really fun part, which is reading new seed catalogs as they arrive in my mailbox. I’ll compare prices, disease resistance, days to harvest, and so forth. What are your goals and dreams for next year’s garden? Any favorite varieties you think I should grow? Please chime in the comments, I love hearing from you all!

My Goals & Plans for 2016

Happy 2016, everybody!  It's time to look at what I want to accomplish this year. I always enjoy evaluating my year’s projects and planning new ones for the coming year. My goals usually fall into three main categories, so I’ve grouped them below. I listed smaller targets or subgoals for each main goal, to help me make progress in smaller bites.

Category 1. Science & Nature

Butterflies, butterflies, and more butterflies!

 

Goal 1.1: Do a Butterfly Bigger Year I had so much fun with my Butterfly Big Year last year that I’m doing it again. I learned a lot so I set a very ambitious goal for the project: 120 species, whereas I only saw 81 last year. My goal for the first Big Year was 100, though, so even though I didn’t achieve it I wanted to have a higher target this year.  My minimum goal though is to at least break 100 species, even while aiming for 120 for the Bigger Year.

·       Target 1:  See 25 Butterfly species by May 8 (Mother’s Day); visit at least 5 sites I didn’t butterfly at during the first Big Year.

·       Target 2: Reach 75 species by June 23; visit 5 more sites I didn’t try last year

·       Target 3: 100 species by August 15; continue expanding my sites list.

·       Target 4: Attend National Association for Interpretation's annual workshop in Texas in November and take a couple side trips for butterflying!

Goal 1.2: Record & report observations A broader goal than the really focused Big Year is to be more diligent about recording and reporting my nature observations. I need to keep better records of what I’m seeing, and also report it to appropriate citizen science projects like eBird, e-Butterfly, budburst, etc.

·       Target 1: identify where to report and what information is needed

·       Target 2: create habits of careful observing & recording—and spend more time with nature than with electronics!

·       Target 3: report at least weekly if not daily

·       Target 4: keep looking for new longterm projects that need data, and participate in them.

Goal 1.3: Participate in more citizen science projects Similarly, I want to participate in more organized citizen science projects. I didn’t end up signing up for FeederWatch this year after all, but there are still additional bird events coming up that I could do: Backyard Bird Watch, Big Sit, and so forth. I’d really like to join a local Butterfly Count in July as well—which would probably help me toward my butterfly goals too! Once again I just need to get past some of the confidence issues.

·       Target 1: pencil dates on planner for things like Big Sit, Backyard Bird Watch, etc.

·       Target 2: attend one interpretive program per month at another park (not mine) for networking possibilities

·       Target 3: look into local parks’ participation in bigger projects (e.g. Christmas Bird Count, NABA Butterfly Count, etc.)

·       Target 4: Participate this year in 3 projects I’m aware of already, and 2 that are new to me this year.

Goal 1.4: Get more professional experience as a naturalist—DONE!! If I hadn’t recently been offered a job as a seasonal naturalist at Locust Grove Nature Center (see here) I had decided this would be the year I would try to earn more experience as a naturalist, whether paid or volunteer. It’s so nice to already be able to check this one off!

Category 2. Connection

I hoped this book display would engage and connect with Brookside Gardens visitors.

 Goal 2.1: Connect more. In general I want to connect more with people this year. I need to reach out more, let myself be vulnerable, and also make sure not to let relationships drop dead for lack of attention. Some connection I want to increase is online, e.g. here, on Facebook, and on Twitter. Also I want to increase my connection with people (eventually friends) in real life as well.

·       Target 1: Actually converse with folks on Twitter & Facebook rather than just lurking. Need to set a goal of comments/week and find ways to not get drawn into a time suck.

·       Target 2: Continue reaching out to people I don’t know but who share interests with me. Eventually aim to invite local online-only friends to meet for real-life activities: birding or butterflying, perhaps?

·       Target 3: Post original content more often on Twitter rather than just retweeting interesting articles. Also make original comments when retweeting to add personal value.

Goal 2.2: Socialize more I want to be more social this year specifically—go to friends’ parties/events more often, go out dancing more, and maybe even host a gathering at my house sometime this year. I tend to be fairly introverted where Victor is very extroverted, so I know this has stressed him out some lately. If I can get over my initial timidity I hope to be a better partner for him, but also make a better life for myself with closer friends whom I trust and frequently talk with.

·       Target 1: Invite friends out for dinners, hiking, etc. at least one time per month

·       Target 2: Find ways to be comfortable at social gatherings. Collect interesting anecdotes, for example. Also try to journal more often to work on remembering interesting experiences. (Other than the anxiety itself, one of my difficulties is coming up with anything to talk about, even with close friends. If I can work on that maybe parties will get a little less stressful.)

·       Target 3: Go out at least twice per week. Dancing, movies with friends, casual type stuff that still gets me (us) out of the house. Hopefully budget-friendly events.

·       Target 4: Invite friends over for a board games night by the end of the year.

Goal 2.3: Comment on blogs more often. I know I need to comment on other people’s blogs more often. I love it so much when folks leave a comment here, I really need to reciprocate in a general sense. Not only the specific commenters’ blogs, but just into the world of blogging as a whole. I hope this will help me with goal 2.1 as well. 

·       Target 1: Organize my blog reading list better (and make sure to keep adding new ones that I find via Twitter connections).

·       Target 2: Set aside specific blog reading time to catch up with posts each week. Start with once per week, maybe increase later.

·       Target 3: Make value-added comments on at least 5 different blog posts each week. Not just “Cool post!” but adding some kind of insight, an additional resource, or showing some kind of active reflection.

Category 3. Making and creating

Making yummy and beautiful things like the apple peel jelly.

 

Goal 3.1 Blog weekly.  I want to blog at least weekly this year. Last year and previous years I kind of hobbled myself by expecting nearly every post to be fairly long with lots of illustrations. This year I intend to give myself more freedom to post shorter pieces, with a sub-goal of one longish piece per month. So I’m aiming for a minimum of 50 blog posts in total, and 10 long-form posts out of those. (What do you think? Anything you’d like to see more or less of? Let me know in the comments.)

·       Target 1: Create an editorial calendar to make some posts easier. Include monthly topic/theme possibilities.

·       Target 2: Schedule time each week to write and post. Get up earlier a couple mornings to do this? Or find a coffeeshop type locale to visit regularly for writing time.

·       Target 3:  Come up with some repeating topics, e.g. every first Monday post photos of the previous month’s best butterflies and/or other wildlife seen on my walks.

·       Target 4: Create central pages that link to recurring themes or topics, like the Big Year, citizen science, etc., to make the blog friendlier and easier for readers to navigate.

·       Target 5: I could also include posts about my Yearofmaking project. Maybe once per month showing projects I’m working on and their progress or failure. Links and/or instructions would be handy as well. See next goal.

Goal 3.2 Twitter challenge: Year of making. This is a year-long challenge I'm doing on Twitter of making something handmade every day. So far I’ve cut out paper snowflakes, made a short paper chain for the Christmas tree from scraps left over from the snowflakes, made a hollow book to hide secret treasures, made seed tapes for planting in the spring, and done a lot of knitting. I also UNmade on one day, when I had to rip out about 20 rows of the sock I’m working on when I decided a mistake way back was just too bad to ignore. Ugh.                   

·       Target 1: First thing is to get in the habit of low-key crafting in the evenings while watching TV. Knitting straightforward patterns, cutting out paper decorations, etc. Also be on the lookout for other places I could be multitask crafting: knitting while waiting in line at the grocery store, perhaps?

·       Target 2: Try new crafts that look intriguing even if they’re challenging and I’m not sure I will succeed. For example, the secret treasure book which I made for Frances, my grandmother-in-law's roommate at the assisted living home. That was a little difficult but turned out great!

·       Target 3: Organize my craft supplies so I can find and access them more easily. Also make a cleaner, bigger space to craft in (mostly by cleaning stuff off my workspaces when I’m done).

Goal 3.3 knit 3 pairs of socks Last year I learned how to knit in the round (woo-hoo! Double pointed needles were kind of scary but I can do it now), and this year I want to to get much better at knitting socks. I want to finish 3 pairs of socks this year, so six socks in all. That might be a bit of a tall order considering my current glacial pace, but I’m going to try anyway. Sock yarn is so thin, it seems to take forever to make progress. But I did treat myself to lovely batches of handspun and hand-dyed yarn at last year’s Sheep & Wool festival, so I will have awesome socks when I’m done.                 

·       Target 1: finish knitting the relatively simple pattern I started at the end of 2015.

·       Target 2: For the second pair, try a different pattern that might be a little challenging but that will probably teach me something.

·       Target 3: Look into knitting socks on circular needles. Maybe I could go faster if I don’t have the double-pointed needles causing issues.

Goal 3.4: Learn to can I’d also like to learn how to properly can this year, using a hot water bath and everything so that I can make shelf-stable preserved fruits and veggies other than dehydrated ones. I have my grandmother-in-law’s huge canning pot and rack already but haven't had the guts to try using it yet. Canning will be a big step up from where I am now—I mostly have been preserving produce by freezing, dehydrating, or refrigerating the things I make.  It would be really nice to can my own tomatoes and things, though, and not have to take up freezer space for them.

·       Target 1: identify what other equipment I’ll need and figure out how to acquire or borrow it.

·       Target 2: Try canning something I already know how to make, e.g. apple butter or tomato sauce.

·       Target 3: Try making something new specifically to preserve it. Jelly/jam? Pickles? Depends on what’s in season when I get here.

So that's all my goals for 2016. Seems like a lot when I look at it here on the screen. Am I being too ambitions? Maybe, but I certainly won't be bored! I'll have to revisit these goals in a few months to see if I need to change or postpone them.

What are some of your goals this year? Chime in with a comment, I'd love to hear about them!

Hooray! I'm gonna be a professional naturalist

So I haven't been posting as often as I'd hoped this year, at least not so far. As often happens, I'm working on lots of drafts but never get around to finalizing and publishing. There's just so much else going on.

But some of what I've been doing has resulted in really good news: I got a job offer to be a seasonal (part-time) naturalist at Locust Grove Nature Center. Yippee! I'll be working there all week in the summer, but fall through spring I'll be there half the week and still work at Brookside Gardens the other half. I am really happy about that. I want to advance my naturalist career but I would feel bad abandoning the library and volunteer program here.  So now it's the best of both worlds.


I don't yet know when I'll start at Locust Grove, we're still working that out. Probably in the next month or so. An additional benefit to taking this job is now I get to check off one of my 2016 goals and we're not even done with January! I had decided this was the year I would either get a naturalist job or start a regular gig volunteering as a naturalist. Ta-da! All set.

So stay tuned for my adventures at Locust Grove. I'll also be posting soon about my goals and plans for 2016, which include of course writing here more frequently. :-)