Recap of our OLLI class field trip on May 4, 2022

Much to everyone's pleasure, the rain did hold off and make a field trip possible.  We headed out from New Road onto Park Road (see map below), and birded our way to Canary Creek and the DNREC launching area on the Broadkill River.  Our bird list more or less in order of observation was:  

Northern Cardinal, Red-eyed Vireo, Black Vulture, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, White-eyed Vireo, Catbird, Common Yellow Throat, Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, Seaside Sparrow, Laughing Gull, Great Egret (photo below), Willet, and Clapper Rail.  Please let me know what I have forgotten.

The 15 moths I had saved to photograph in our classroom if our field trip got rained out, have now been photographed in a chilled state.  Some of the little moths don't stay chilled out very long, and can present a humorous challenge as they make a hasty departure while my camera is in hand.  I will be putting their photos up on my iNaturalist page...bill6711....so you can see what my 2 moth traps caught on the night May 2-3.

Click on images below for a full size view.  Note the greenish color beginning around the base of the bill, and the plumes emerging toward its tail, are breeding plumage features of the Great Egret. 

 

 

Last OLLI iNaturalist Class on Wed, May 4, 2022 at 9 am

Last Minute Update: Tomorrow, we may go to Prime Hook NWR to see these beautiful Pink Lady-Slipper Orchids photographed by Sally just hours ago.  We will still meet at OLLI to organize our plan.  Click on pic to enlarge. 

 

Hello Class,

Just a reminder that from 8 to 9 am tomorrow, there is a Continental Breakfast in the Trinity Education Building, so immediately before our class.  Events like this are a very good opportunity to meet other OLLI members and discuss like interests. 

For our class tomorrow, we will make every reasonable effort to have a field trip as outlined in the previous post, but of course we will not venture out in heavy rain or thunderstorms.  I am game to head out in a drizzle, and will have light rain gear.

As I also mentioned in the previous post, in case rain forces us to stay in the classroom, I will come prepared with some "chilled" live moths we can photograph and upload the pics to iNaturalist.  So last night I set my moths traps out, and now have 14 chilled moths of various species. 

But here's hoping for a break in the weather and an outdoor field trip.

Bill

Our Field Trip Destination for the Class on May 4, 2022

We will meet at the OLLI campus on New Road, and then go as a group to the U of DE campus on Canary Creek.  Wildlife we should see include Osprey, Clapper Rails, Fiddler Crabs, Forster's Terns and lots of saltwater marsh plants.  If the weather is not conducive to a field trip, my plan is to catch some moths the day or two before the field trip, and bring the moths to class and photograph them "in a cooled/torpid state".  So whatever the weather, you should have a good hands-on wildlife experience for our last class.

Blackwater NWR on 4/24/2022, Picture series #2

From the same boardwalk where we saw the King Rail, we also had great views of a female Barn Swallow bringing mud back to make a nest under the elevated wood boardwalk.

After that was a walk on the Woods trail with towering Loblolly Pines, a Pink Lady slipper with no flower stalk showing yet, and some species of Clubmoss.

Blackwater NWR on April 24, 2022

This tour was with our daughter Emily and her 2 children.  They did all of the Blackwater loop trail by bike, and Sally and I did it by car.  Sally was the driver, and I was the photographer. Below are some highlight pictures, and here is a FWS link to Blackwater NWR.

 

King Rail

Solar Power for Visitor Center

Ribbon Snake above

Great Blue Heron and Great Egret below

OLLI class participants at Cape Henlopen Yesterday

 

Joan, Maureen, Bill, Pam, and Diana....

with a lot of happy songbirds singing in the background.

 

Photo by Sally Fintel

Class Field Trip to Cape Henlopen State Park 4/20/22

 

We had a beautiful sunny morning, with very good views of several bird species, including:  White-throated Sparrow, House Finch, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, Red-winged Blackbird, Purple Martin and Turkey Vulture.  All except for the Turkey Vulture were singing their spring songs.

We all got some more experience uploading pics from a cell phone to iNaturalist, although with poor internet connection, that was a major challenge which I did not complete until I got home.  The pics I took, including 3 plant species have now all been uploaded to bill6711 on iNaturalist.  In our next class we will review possible ways to make the cell phone process easier.  Until then, just soar like a "Buzzard" 😀.

OLLI Plans for Class on 4/20/22

 Hi Class,

This coming Wed, 4/20/22, we will have a field trip to the Nature Center at Cape Henlopen State Park.  We will still meet at 9 am at the Trinity Faith Education Building in Lewes, and several class members have offered to help car pool others to the Nature Center.  Note that park fees or pass requirements are in effect.  The weather forecast is for sun and 60°, but do remember it can feel chillier near the water.

Hopefully everyone has a cell phone loaded with iNaturalist and/or Seeker by iNaturalist.  If you have a good camera with which to take nature pics, you are encouraged to bring it.  Then at home you can download pics, edit them if you wish, and upload some to iNaturalist.

If you have any questions beforehand, just email me at billfintel@gmail.com.

Bill

Scientists Are Strong....even in the face of oppression

I am now back on my feet....after having fallen out of my chair 5 minutes ago with an ID for my Spring Fishfly that came via an iNaturalist scientist in Crimea......yup you got it....once Ukraine, now Russia......I actually had to smile.  That was such a positive event that I personally experienced....and now of course wish to share. 

I do hope this continues........

For a reality check....  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111569145 

and     https://www.inaturalist.org/people/grigorenko

Scientist Bill....forging onward

Other Web Sties to Refer to along with iNaturalist

As you saw in class, BugGuide is another site that deals both with moths, and also many, many other insects.  It also provides easy access to features such as images of other life stages for an insect in question.  The link for BugGuide is:  https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740   One can become a member of BugGuide, but one does NOT have to to still use it.

My favorite moth site is MPG, which is short for Moth Photographers Group at Mississippi State University.  The link to it is: https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/  I believe it has the best quality moth photographs, so I very often get a moth ID suggestion from iNaturalist, then enter that suggestion in the MPG search bar, and then compare my images to the MPG moth pics for that moth.  It is also worth noting that in MPG, there is a list of References that always has a link to that species' page in BugGuide.

MPG also has good range maps, and below the initial range map is an option for "Large Map and Chart".  Clicking on that will give you an enlarged map with a table of that moths seasonal occurrence by state.  For us in little Delaware, I use Maryland as a reference state, because there is much more data being utilized, and both states are at about the same latitude.

If you want to try some of these tips out, below are my latest photos of a Distinct Quaker Moth and a Baltimore Snout which you can compare to what these sites display.

Moth Madness Week

 Hi Class and Visitors,

The last 2 nights of warm weather brought the moths out.  So below are a few highlight pics, plus my inputs to iNaturalist are all updated with the new moths.

Seeing nature come alive as Spring truly appears is so Great!!!

Bill

 

 

Using a mobile phone for iNaturalist and other tips

 Hello OLLI Class...and anyone else who happens upon this post,

After our last class I did some research on iNaturalist, and first off I think I found the best way to return to "Home" on the site.  Regardless of where you are on the site, go to your icon pic in the upper right hand corner, click on it, and select "Dashboard".  This takes you to your "Home" and from there you may wish to select "Your Observations" which will show you recent edits to your observations, such as confirmations.  Often there are two tabs, "More" and "Show More".  The "Show More" tab keeps you in the same function and just expands the pictures you can view.  "More" seems to take you to a similar, but new window.  Hey I am learning with you :)

Now concerning using a mobile phone, for iPhones, there are two iNaturalist apps.  One is called "iNaturalist" and one is called "Seek".  I down loaded and tried both and they are definitely the best way to use iNaturalist capabilities on an iPhone.  They both tie into your phone's camera and connect with iNaturalist's main computers for identification of what you have photographed.  The main difference between the 2 apps is that Seek does not download any data to iNaturalist, whereas the iNaturalist app can download pics and info to your iNaturalist account (if you have one, or it can help you get one).  

For Androids, per Joan Mansperger, there is only "Seek", which has the camera connection and iNaturalist computer ID connection, BUT does NOT have capability to download data to an account.  iNaturalist actually recommends Seek for new and novice users, so the inexperienced do not upload a bunch of low quality data and photos.

Lastly, in the menu bar at the very top there is an option labelled "More".  This tab will take you to options such as "Getting Started" and "Video Tutorials", so you are basically never without HELP!

More on all of this in our upcoming class Wed, April 13, 2022.

I hope all well, and enjoying nature.  Sally and I are seeing early migrant warblers, like Yellow-rumped, Parula, Black-and-White and Yellow-throated (below).

 

 

Curiosity can be Beautiful

No more words needed other than this pic was taken on top of the Ethiopian plateau at 10,000+ ft.  As you can for sure tell, the Ethiopian Wolf and I were communicating...he even offered to bring me a Mole Rat, his favorite food.  Your quiz question is...."What was my reply?"

How to Get Detailed Species Background Info on iNaturalist

Hi Olli Class... and anyone else interested in this issue,

Here is how to quickly get to details on a species…..Just click on the species name, either in English or Latin, in a window, and now seems to work in all windows.  Not sure why this seemingly did not work many times this morning…. other than maybe there was an iNat ghost in the room today....😎   Do it right and here is what you get....but it does seen you have to copy and paste these links.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41566-Megaptera-novaeangliae 

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41724-Hydrurga-leptonyx

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/118513-Hypena-scabra

Moths, Birds and Nature on iNaturalist

 Course Content Doc for Bill Fintel’s  iNaturalist Course Spring 2022

 

In this course we will do the following:

 

• Learn about iNaturalist as a user friendly record keeping program to track nature observations worldwide.

 

• Bill will review some of his over 1,000 entries, and show how the AI aspect of iNaturalist can be used to help identify a species from a photograph

 

• Class members will be encouraged to establish an iNaturalist account, photograph some specimens of their favorite wildlife (animals or plants), and upload the photos to their  iNaturalist account.

 

• Class members should have a means of logging onto the Internet while at class.  OLLI has some class-available Laptops & i-Pads.

 

• It is tentatively planned during the course to take at least one field trip to photograph wildlife.  A cell phone camera will suffice for taking wildlife photos.

 

Want a preview of Bill's iNaturalist account, go here (probably have to copy and paste): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/bill6711

I suspect in some ways..... mentally, physically, or both, we are all Wandering Albatrosses :)

Birding Prime Hook on New Years Eve

 Lots of good birds with a good friend we had not seen in about 4 years, Curt Davis.  We started at Fowler Beach and watched about 10,000 Snow Geese lift off between 8 and 9 am.  In part of that was an incoming flock of 10 Tundra Swans,  and 2 im. Bald Eagles. Then we moved on south for several great American Kestrel views.  Our final highlight was Prime Hook Beach Road where we max'd out our Bald Eagle count at 8, and had many waterfowl, mostly Black Ducks, Mallards and Pintails.  We concluded on the DE Bay seashore for some delightful close and trusting Sanderlings.  Pics are below.