Diario de galactic_bug_man

Well my big trip of the year is taking form slowly yet surely. It will be around the last week of July like we have planned. I am getting my gear together that I am wanting to travel with. I have been charging up my cameras and trying new things with them to do some things I have not done yet. For one I have gotten out the GoPro and do some things with that. I got into some of my camera parts. I had this display base I got with my Light-ring I got for Christmas and I noticed that it had a screw-port that could attach to a tripod. I also had a sticky base for the GoPro that I had not used. I stuck the port on to the light ring display base and made my own rig attachment for the tripod. With that I put the tripod in my backpack with the GoPro attachment and will be using it to take general images of the surrounding areas I am exploring for future videos. This is a generic thing I have come up for all my future trips not just this exploration.

I have decided to take all my cameras for this one. My Canon Rebel T6 and my Canon Vixia will be with me. I will not be leaving before my birthday and I am eyeing this scope like I have said. If I do wind up getting the birding scope then I will be able to take my old single lens phone as a back up camera. The scope in my plans will be an extra camera. It is not really a full camera but with the phone it will act like a bigger camera for some of the birds will be hidden and my Canon Rebel does not have the power to pick up things from too far off with the current lenses. It is not a problem for me. I mean I deal with what I am given and I make it work. Being Mr. frugal is not as bad as it may seem. I mean I get good quality even if it is a bit pricey but I got for cheaper end and then I make it work. So this idea getting a scope will be like getting an more powerful lens but at low cost and I will have the phone to take photos with the feature of a phone port attachment. I am not sure if it will pan out but we shall see.

I have been looking at the many species they have on iNaturalist and have consulted many of the my field guides that are US wide. I don't have many but when I don't have certain resources in book form there is always the internet. I have downloaded and printed out some species lists for birds. I have even found some other lists of mammals other bigger creatures. I am still gathering some last minute things and getting some good stuff around the National Wildlife pages and even state park lists. I have also found some places to go besides what is already on our possible itinerary. However, when I get down there I am going to treat it like it was an City Nature Challenge. Any bit of wildlife I can find will get a photo made of it. I have been itching to get out this far. I am going to combine some different techniques I have done on some of the other vacations I have done with my family.

For one: Rest stops seem to be a good place to be good for moths, spiders, birds, and other things. I have to stretch my legs a lot. We will be on the road for a long while. We don't fly; the way I see it if you fly you will miss things along the way. So this will be a good way to explore and to boost the lists of places that don't get much press at all. I also take photos of things on powerlines too. This comes from my adventures going to Colorado and going through New Mexico.

Two: We will be going to the beach at one point. I have learned of some things that are pretty cool that I have not seen before. If I can get some of the areas I will be able to find some different bits of sea life. I will have a shovel and bucket and look under the surface for shells and even look in the seaweeds and take photos of what is in there. I have been planning this out since the trip was thought of. So this will be a form of beach aquatics which I don't get to do that much. Now I will be doing this during our winter trips to the coast but this will be a good time to test this out. I am not going to let any shells or anything get out from under my nose.

Three: Now we will be having some things like we did in Missouri when we went to Branson. Disney World will be on the list since all of us want to do that. The Georgia Aquarium too is on the list and there is a museum in Florida we will be doing so these will be what I call the sticky spots but unlike Missouri I will be sure to get more than 88 observations for the whole time I am there. Still these will be good to explore and add to the urban wildlife counts which is what I am wanting to do with the rest of what I am doing on this trek.

I will not be bringing any books with me. I will be trying to pack as light as possible. I have one back pack ready to go, I have my camera back and I will have my hiking stick and my bucket and trowel too. I will even have the basic stuff I use all the time. I will have my net but I don't know how much beat sheet stuff I will do for this trek. I may do a bit but I am not too sure. Still this will be good all around.

I am not sure how many species I will get but from what I have been seeing and what I have been told there is a lot. I am so glad I am getting this opportunity to go and explore. This is another big jump for me. I have been as far west as Arizona and as far north as Colorado and those are some pretty big stretches; this will be the farthest east I have been in all the time I have done iNaturalist so this is another big hurdle for me. I am even training a bit just like I would for the City Nature Challenge or the smaller BioBlitzes I have done. Like I said Missouri was a little bit of hit and miss but after the City Nature Challenge numbers I collected and with the summer coming to its peak I am going to be in full observation mode. Call me ambitious but that is just the kind of person I am. I am so close to 16,000 observations and if I can come back with a hefty number of species and a good experience that just adds to the data count and more stories to tell and more wildlife to speak up for. This is the life I live for now and it has helped me gain an understanding of where I stand the relationships we all have with nature. INatting has become a big part of my life and every chance I get to do something like this or even just get to use it I do not waste time getting in some observations. You can just call me obsessed with it.

Well, I am still going to Georgia but due to a few minor issues we will not be able to get to Florida right now. However we might be saving that for the Winter Trek. We go to the Texas Coast a lot and we are kind of thinking about making a big change up. Anyway, so now we have a few less vacation days but that does not mean that it will not be any less fun. We have found a few more options and one of those is to get the City Pass which includes entry to the Georgia Aquarium which is a must for me and my brother, I am also interested in the Fernbank Museum, the Coco-a-cola museum will be fun just because I am interested in learning not just about wildlife but also just how things are made and how things work. I love to go to some of those off-the-rails adventures. Fernbank as I looked up looks pretty cool. I have not been to this area of Georgia before so far as I know. Atlanta will be some new territory for me. In our adventure we are planning on going to a few National Parks since my dad does have the senior pass for us to get in free. So being tight on some funds this will help a bit. Okefenokie is a no go sadly but I can save that for our big Christmas Trip.

Yesterday July-19 was my birthday and I got a brand new scope that I can't wait to use in the field. I have been playing with that sucker a lot since I got it. I am getting my gear sorted and a check list made to make sure I don't forget anything. I am going to be traveling pretty lightly. Grabbing only some of the citizen science gear/ all the cameras/ some of the tools I use. No big nets or anything like that just the bare essentials. I will not have that much time to do a lot of in-depth stuff but this will be indeed a phase project I will be doing. I am hoping that I get to find a lot of cool stuff. I have noticed that Georgia has very few observations compared to some. I mean overall it is an impressive amount of stuff but for each areas it is quite an odd site. I mean in Texas I have seen many places with over a thousand species; however, when I see Georgia's record I am like wait hold up. Some areas only have like six hundred or so observations. I love to add stuff to counts out of state and this will be a good project. I am going to be looking for a few things but one of which is the Pileated Woodpecker. That sucker has been just as pesky to find as the Dragonhunter. However we will be deep in swamp areas so this will be very cool. I am looking forward to all the places we will travel too. I am looking forward to seeing that big Aquarium and their new Tiger Shark exhibit. I mean it is just amazing what they have in that place. I am looking forward to the all the big things we will do. A few patches will be collected and a lot of photos and some videos will be taken too.

I am all giddy with anticipation. This will be the first time since I was six years old that I will be going back this far east. I have made it my mission since I joined iNaturalist to go back to some areas I had been to that I thought were really cool and go back and pick up some of the pieces to help rekindle old memories. Find past possible lifers and also just have a new experience all together. Just like in Colorado I got to go to some of the old hangouts and some new places. So each time I go out I am making new connections with the roots of the past running deep. I mean it is amazing to see just how somethings have changed but yet how they stay the same. I mean used to I was not very observant but now I am always using my sense of observation more than I used to. So this is great to see old areas of exploration but adding more to the old memory card (my brain). I mean it is just going to be very interesting to see what I can find. I have seen the species list and there are quite a few things I am wanting to see. Also one of my targets is the illusive Dragonhunter. I will be in a good position for a lot of things but I will have to make the most what time I have out there. I will be doing a lot of things out there and with my trips no time is wasted for learning. True in Missouri I didn't go to too many wild areas but I did find a few good species to start on for that area. I need to go back to that place but there are some future trips that maybe in the works. My aunt is wanting us to get passports so we can go to Alaska sometime. I know I would love to do that trek. That one I will need to take some time to do. That will be amazing but right now we have to work our way up.

My family has always loved to travel around and see the sights and see new things. For me I have that rover spirit that just can't be contained. If there is trails I have not been on or places I have not been to I want to explore them. I have always been that way. I love making connections not to my own past or my own stuff but I like to explore history and the deep roots of different cultures. I love to learn and explore. Sure at the end of the day I do like my nice warm bed and love to have my home base and my garden and just my home life but every summer, spring break, winter vacations and most weekends I am hitting the trail and looking high and low for all sorts of things. I am ready to take on documenting more of the east. This will be another big leap in uncharted iNatting territory for me. I mean the place is not uncharted but not ever being there to do iNaturalist is like a new frontier of discovery. I am hoping to find some big things and maybe make some unusual finds. I am looking forward to seeing what I will see. I always am. This will be most interesting.