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 :)

May 22, 2019 OLLI Field Trip to Mispillion

This was our last class field trip for spring 2019, and it was a good one. The highlight for me was a field with an estimated 2,500 Black-bellied Plover along Prime Hook Road. We also saw many shorebirds from the observation deck of the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Inlet. Unfortunately that consisted of only about 5 Red knots, that were also far away. Perhaps the main numbers have yet to arrive on their way north. Rob Blye's eBird check list links will be in the next post, and after that I will try to compile one class checklist for this spring.

On the visual side, Steve Walker again got some great bird pics from this past field trip.

One of Bill's Favorite Gulls

For our Osher class this past Wed, YES, I did make some disparaging comments about gulls in general, but then when asked why? I said my main issue is with BIG "landfill gulls" that often raid the nests of smaller birds, such as Piping Plover, and also poop all over walkers on the boardwalks, passengers on the ferries, customers at MacDonald's, ETC.

So what are some of the gulls I like? Well how about this juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake? It is a sharp looking small gull that as far as I know does not harass other birds. Pic taken by me in Alaska, but they do occur in DE.....and I almost forgot to add, my boat is named the Kittiwake :)

Today at Prime Hook NWR

I have been bringing my camera on our OLLI class field trips, but I rarely get time to use it. So today just me and my camera went to Prime Hook. Because of the high east winds, followed my a lot of rain last night, water levels were very high, and had actually been over Prime Hook Rd overnight. Even so, I got a few good bird pics to share with you, with a few more still to come. (Click on photos for larger image).

 Why is my blog called My Tern? Why not? Foresters Tern

 Yellow slippers??? Hey these are yellow boots! Snowy Egret

So what is the problem with Greater vs Lesser Yellowlegs???

So why "My Tern" as a blog name?

Why not?

And see below pics of Forster's Terns at Prime Hook NWR where I bird a lot. 

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These terns were feeding at one of the culvert outfalls under Prime Hook Road, as was this Great Blue Heron. So these locations often present great photo opportunities.