As the new year starts I’m sure some of us are grateful that the holiday season is finally over. What with work and all the other stresses that accompany this wonderful time of year, as I speak for myself I’ll be happy when 2014 is just a memory. And if you follow this blog with any regularity you probably noticed by now the lack of entries for last month. Well it wasn’t because I didn’t try. If I remember correctly my last outing was when I hunted down the Black-legged Kittiwake, which now seems like a long time ago.
Well that’s about to change as January is upon us and another “January 100 Species Challenge” will commence. And this year there’s a little twist to the challenge. Like last year I took a week off in January and did some heavy duty birding and was able to score my 100 species thanks in part to that week of vacation. And this year will almost be the same except for one detail. My week off will be spent in the Panhandle of Florida.
Now you might be saying to yourself, “Les, isn’t that kind of cheating?” Well yes and no. If I was doing a state 100 species, then yes that would be cheating. However this is more like a fun one, and since I’m not doing to turn down an opportunity to go to Florida in January, I’m doing to count every bird whether it’s in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, or Florida. What I think I’m going to do is try to see as many birds no matter where I am in the month of January.
Maybe I’ll see 150 or 200 birds. I don’t think it matters really, just as long as I can get out and do some birding. And since I’ve been to that part of Florida recently, I am vaguely familiar with what to look for. So as I tally up my species seen for the month, stay tuned to regular updates, whether it’s in Ohio or Florida.
Other news which is kind of exciting it my new toy so I can now share photos from my tablet. If you don’t know my Samsung tablet doesn’t have the capability of uploading pictures from my camera. So now I can remedy this problem with my Ravpower filehub wireless SD card reader.
Besides being able to wirelessly upload pictures, movies or music, from either a flashdrive, external hard drive, or SD card, it can recharge your cell phone or tablet. They have some pretty good You Tube videos demonstrating how this handy little devise works.
So next time you hear from me it will be from the Sunshine State.
A Birder's Notebook 