Don't forget to look down!

Hey BackyardBio kids! I hope you’re having a great time getting out there and opening your eyes to the natural world around you. There are just five days left of this month’s project, so let’s get cranking on some observations and IDs!

I admit, I spend most of my time looking up for birds, but this project has made me realize how many living things there are out there… and you don’t have to look far, you just have to look down! I usually go for a short walk, and failing to a bird sitting still long enough for a photo, I think “Well, nothing to see today.” But I have watched as other project naturalists have posted hundreds upon hundreds of plants, moths, butterflies, grasses, trees and insects. I also realized how much there is for me to learn!

For example, look at the project observations from @thebeachcomber. Tiny little flowers as small as your fingernail! So beautiful, yet I would probably walk by not even noticing. And what is even cooler is that Mr. Mesaglio’s observations are from Australia! We’ve had opportunity to learn about the living organisms in a part of the world most of us won’t see.

© Photographer: Thomas Mesaglio | iNat Observation: 60696720

And what about @tysmith… he’s been flipping every rock in Virginia this month and showed us eighteen different species of salamanders along with hundreds of other observations. Again, I probably would have walked right on by those rock piles and rotting logs thinking, “Well, there’s nothing to see here.”

© Photographer: Ty Smith | iNat Observation: 60670239

And this thing from @hawksthree??? I don't even know what the heck that is!!!

© Photographer: Scott Wright | iNat Observation: 60627066

So don’t get frustrated when your out the next few days thinking, "There's nothing to see here." Don't forget to look down and examine the details. Let’s see what you can find! And don't forget to look at the BackyardBio Project Observations and see if you can identify anything.

Posted on September 25, 2020 03:03 PM by williamwisephoto