Excellent idea.
I would suggest that trees only count 0.25 of the other species as they can be found simply be geo-recording them, and over time finding them is simply a matter of gas money and time rather than skill.
sam
Sam Droege��<sdroege...>���������������������
w 301-497-5840 h 301-390-7759 fax 301-497-5624
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
BARC-EAST, BLDG 308, RM 124 10300 Balt. Ave., Beltsville, MD� 20705
Http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down?
We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
������ -�� Jack Handey
________________________________
From: Bill Hubick <bill_hubick...>
To: MDBirds <mdbirding...>
Cc: Marshall Iliff <miliff...>; David CURSON <dcurson...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 2, 2013 12:58 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] Eastern Shore Highlights (1/1), Biodiversity Challenge
Hi Everyone,
I enjoyed an excellent start to 2013 yesterday with Jim Brighton and Tom Feild. Tom and I picked up Jim in Easton at 4:00 a.m. to arrive on the coast well before dawn. Jim and I are kicking off a ridiculously fun and immediately addictive challenge in 2013 as part of the Maryland Biodiversity Project. Our goal is to each detect and identify 1,000 species of living thing in Maryland in 2013. The great part about this challenge is that we can turn our efforts outward to Maryland's wealth of fascinating microhabitats or focus inwardly on the galaxy of overlooked species close to home. We are pleased to have identified 176 species so far, an excellent kick-off to what we're calling the Biodiversity Challenge.
Read more and keep tabs here:
http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/biodiversityChallenge.php
Note
that there is an Excel template linked for keeping your own records. (Hopefully next year we'll support reporting them directly on-line.) Consider setting a biodiversity goal of your own, changing the species goal and territory you'll cover to suit your schedule/ambitions. Feel free to give us a run for our money!� The goal of the Maryland Biodiversity Project is to promote conservation and education by fostering general natural history study. If you haven't been pulled into butterflies, odes, tiger beetles, and wildflowers, we hope to make it too fun and easy to resist. You know there is some group of living things you have always considered studying, but put off---we hope to talk you into it!� If you haven't checked the site recently, we are now tracking county records for all species, so help us document county records for even common species by posting photos to our Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2107171@N23/. You'll be
surprised how fun and addictive it is, and we're building a granularity of Maryland nature records never before attempted.
Some of the avian highlights from yesterday:
Assateague Island
Northern Saw-whet Owls--2 vocal birds on Assateague. For anyone expecting a series of toots, this is the main call you're likely to hear when listening for this species in winter:
http://www.billhubick.com/audio/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl_Assateague_MD_20130101_01.mp3
Ipswich Sparrow--2 along the Assateague Causeway
Castaways Campground (stop in to request permission) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12447008
Black-bellied Plover--22
WESTERN WILLET--9
Dunlin--111
Forster's Tern--3
Brown-headed Nuthatch--1
Fox Sparrow--1
No Western Grebe - had to try!
Skimmer Island - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12447078
American Oystercatcher--8
Bonaparte's Gull--3
Forster's
Tern--175!
Gudelsky Park - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12447269
BROWN PELICAN--1
COMMON REDPOLL--1
Feeding frenzy of Red-throated Loons (19), Red-breasted Mergansers (16), Bonaparte's Gull, Forster's Terns
Ocean City Inlet
Common Eider--3 (imm. male and two females)
Harlequin Duck--1
West OC Pond - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12447379
Nice dabbler diversity
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH--1; rare locally
COMMON REDPOLL--1 flyover
Choptank River (Bill Burton Fishing Pier) - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12447455
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE continues.
Blackwater NWR at dusk - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12447862
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE--1
Richardson's Goose--3
Canada Geese--12,000+
Common Merganser--8
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN--13
And of course many of our highlights weren't birds!� My favorites
were Laurel-leaved Greenbrier, two locations for Coral Greenbrier, Atlantic White Cedar, and excitedly identifying a half-dozen winter-blooming weeds we had always overlooked.
Comical miss - Jim's dreams of New Years ponies were not to be despite last-ditch efforts to scope distant marshes and North Assateague from the Inlet. Jim was crushed.
Happy New Year!� Happy Biodiversifying!
Bill
Biodiversity Challenge
http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/biodiversityChallenge.php
MBP on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/MarylandBiodiversity
�
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
<bill_hubick...>
http://www.billhubick.com
http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com
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