An important trend in #Research is “citizen science”. While I am credentialed and experienced in some scientific fields, I enjoy others for recreation. One of my hobbies is observing wildlife and documenting my observations in “life lists”. I began with birding, but have extended this to any animal that I come across. My rules are simple – I don’t count captive animals, I don’t count dead animals and I must do my best to rule out similar species before adding a sighting to my list. I especially enjoy “first of” sightings and also like to track how close I am to seeing all members of a taxa. For example, I’ve seen 2/8 species of Ursidae (bears) and 3/8 species of pelican in the wild. Striving for new sightings has completely changed my experience of the natural world, from city sidewalks to remote parks. By sharing my experiences, I hope to contribute to “citizen science” . While I’m definitely no expert in these areas, I hope documenting and sharing what works, what didn’t work or what was difficult will be useful for other “life listers”. And I especially hope somebody reading these entries might decide to give this a try!
Sightings posts: