It’s the start of the new year and a good time to fill you in on my plans for this blog for 2012. First, I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing, but step up the pace and add a minimum of 120 new species to master list this year, each with individual blog entries. So far, I have just one for 2012. It’s certainly a whole lot easier when the ground isn’t frozen and covered with snow (with some exceptions), so I will catch up. I also want to invest more effort into observing animals for extended periods of time to learn more about their habits and behavior in the wild. I also want to do some new things with the blog this year to make it even more interesting.
New Traps and Collection Techniques for 2012
In 2012, I’ll also use several new insect trapping/ gathering techniques and provide step-by-step instructions as I did in 2011 with the insect pit trap. Some of these techniques can yield hundreds of specimens of dozens of species with just a couple of hours of work. I may also use a larger pit trap to see if I can catch some small forest floor mammals and reptiles.
Aquatic Creature Collection
When it’s much warmer out, I’ll start poking around in streams and vernal pools to see what we can find. With some luck, we’ll find aquatic eggs that we can watch hatch with video or time-lapse still pictures.
Find More Lizards and Snakes
I don’t have any salamanders or lizards on the list yet, but I’m pretty sure there must be several species of them that can be found in my yard. I also like to find a few more species of snakes to add to our list.
Capturing Metamorphosis
I’ll also be keeping a few of the caterpillars that I find, especially those that are hard to identify, to let them turn into moths or butterflies in captivity to help with the identification, again with complete instructions how you can do that at home or at school. When I do this, I’ll go into more detail about the process of metamorphosis and how it differs for a variety of different animals. Hopefully, I can get some time-lapse photos taken and make a video to show the full process.
Identifying Animal Tracks and Signs
At some point this year, I hope to add some pages here dedicated to identifying animal tracks and scat with pictures, original line drawings, and tips to help figure out what animal left any tracks you might find. We’ll also used other left-behind clues like feathers, abandoned bird’s nests, egg shell fragments, and shed skins to help figure out who lives in my yard.
Finding Animal Homes
Whenever we start getting too close to the place where an animal makes its home and raises its young, we run the risk of stressing the animal or even driving it off. To see them in these places, we need to use great care to avoid any possibility of disturbing or harming the animal in question. Fortunately, in this age of technology, things like remote cameras can give us a candid look into places like a bird’s nest without bothering the animals at all, especially if we place the cameras before the bird or other animal ever arrives, such as with nest box cameras.
Bring in Real Animal Experts
This year, I hope to also spend some time talking with real animal experts who can shed some light on areas in which I lack expertise. I’ll find some experts to help with the tricky identifications, talk about habitat management, biodiversity, tracking, animal behavior, natural history, and other related topics and share that here on the blog this year. For some of the creatures that live in my yard, I’ll supplement the pictures I take here, with visits to rehabilitation centers, zoos, or university research centers or other places where I might get better access for photos and observing the animals in question.
Your Ideas?
What else would you like to see here? What do you like or not like about “What Lives in my Yard?” Let me know in the comments section below. I read them all.
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