The Year 2018 in Pictures, Cont’d

You’ve seen, and have hopefully enjoyed, the bird and people photos in the previous blog, “The Year 2018 in Pictures.” Now, let’s take a look at the 2018 “Elizabeth River Critters List” photos as well, which feature everything from butterflies and blue crabs to dragonflies and dolphins. Please remember that each can be enlarged by clicking on it. These photos, like the others, point to the the restoration of the Elizabeth River and environs in SE Virginia (thanks to the Elizabeth River Project and its many partners), the abandoned tires–and perhaps the jellyfish–notwithstanding.

Man measuring a blue crab

Blue crab

Beau: part retriever, part pointer, and part red drum

Atlantic bottlenose dolphin

Yellowjacket

Coastal Plain Cooter

Dragonfly and land snails species

Eastern Cottontail

White-tailed deer

Black swallowtail butterfly

Eastern Gray Squirrel

North American River Otter

Jellyfish species

Monarch butterfly

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

And This Just In

Here are some more shoutouts, this time to Marlee Morris, the newly appointed “Ornithologist-in-Residence” at the Elizabeth River Project restoration site, Paradise Creek Nature Park in Portsmouth, VA–and to Marlee, Kat Fish, and the 1st-day hikers who on 1/1/19 spotted a Wild Turkey there. That turkey is bird species #161 at this “urban oasis.” I remember thinking a few years ago that we’d NEVER reach bird #100 at Paradise. Boy was I wrong! You’ll note, by the way, if you read my short bio in the sidebar, that Ms. Morris and I share a similar title.

Quip, Question, Quote

We’ll end with a record 3 quotes.

I think about the above and that 1st Day Hike, and something I wrote in a much earlier blog, Birdwatching Connects Us With Nature comes to mind:

When we’re outdoors birdwatching we are forging a connection with the natural world around us, a connection that too few of us have. This makes me think of something I read just today that proves that point. Twenty-five percent of Americans spend all day inside.  One can’t connect with nature in any substantive way indoors.

And then there are these pertinent words from the next blog, 2018: the Year of the Bird: “Birding is downright exciting. You never know what you might come across!” That is so true.

Lastly, here are some intriguing words I heard on the radio recently. Marlee, who attended Harvard, might find them interesting. Hopefully, she’ll find them amusing as well!

“There’s more wisdom in country music than there is at Harvard.”

Until next time.

And thank you, as always, for reading.