Hi everyone!
It’s been a while. Far too long. In short, my partner was very ill for several months. My life closed down very suddenly to revolve around hospital visits and doctor’s appointments. There was no space for anything else. I am grateful to say that he’s completely better now, and our lives have (mostly) returned to normal.
This letter was supposed to go out around January, can you believe? But that’s okay. I’m starting here because I still want to post a 2023 recap for my naturalist findings of the year.
I started paying attention and collecting things I found on walks late Spring last year. It was something I used to do as a child with my mother all of the time. But between adult pressures and unkind peers, I’d locked away this interest until the age of 28. My partner encouraged me to collect and so it began.
At first it was grasses, then it grew–feathers, broken eggshells, the occasional dead insect, and a skull. This letter is really a summary for myself to look back on for the things I found so I can track changes over time, finds between years.
I have developed systems for organizing my collection (which I’ll detail in another issue, soon to come!) over the year and that has also been extremely rewarding and fulfilling to engage with.
01 - The Feathers
Over 2023, I collected 52 feathers across 17 species of birds. The * denotates some uncertainty in the ID.
1 Great Blue Heron (Body)
4 Common Raven (Primary Wing + body)
2 Cooper’s Hawk (body + Secondary Wing)
3 Rock Pigeon (Primary/Secondary Wing)
1 Northern Shrike* (Primary Wing)
3 Northern Flicker (Primary + Secondary Wing)
5 Killdeer (Tail)
1 Woodpecker (*unsure which) (Tail)
1 Sooty Grouse (Tail)
13 American Robin (Primary, Body, Fledgeling)
8 Spotted Towee (Primary, Body)
1 Barred Owl (Body)
2 Great Horned Owl (Body)
1 Turkey Vulture (Secondary)
4 Mallard Duck (Secondary, Body)
02 - The Eggs
I found only a few eggs: three American Robin eggs in their glorious turqouise, and one Crow/Raven egg. A gorgeous light blue with brown speckling.
03 - The Insects
Over the summer, I found two Admiral’s Lonquin butterflies, 2 individual wings from Admiral’s Lonquin’s, 1 dragonfly, 2 individual wings from dragonflies, 1 cryssalis, and two small wasp nests.
I am especially interested in documenting the butterflies found over the years, and pinning them professionally. Later on this month, I’m taking a class on how to pin insects (I’ll be pinning a cicada), which is exciting.
The cryssalis I observed over a week or two, only picking it up after the butterfly or moth inside had emerged. The cryssalis honestly looks like bird poop, so it’s got some excellent camoflouge in its design, which is interesting!
Wasp nests and wasp paper is everywhere in the Fall when their nests being to break down. I’ve learned that you can try painting on the paper - this is something I haven’t yet tried but I do have scraps of wasp paper from their nest saved to try.
04 - Everything Else in the Cabinet of Curiosities
I also found one small, precious hummingbird nest, dislodged a small rabbit skull (without teeth) in the ground which I am in the process of cleaning, foraged a few mushrooms for the beginning of my herbarium (notably my favourite, a mossy mazegill), and my partner found garter snake skin sheds in a woodpile he was moving and carefully collected them for me. They’re so beautiful!
Taxidermy Accountability Update: Still have not tried out the mouse yet. Due to the reasons written above! But it’s still going to happen!
First Find of 2024: A Black Oystercatcher (or Cormorant, honestly hard to tell due to a lack of reference photos) feather! It is pitch black and smelled of oil when I picked it up. I have learned that the darker the melanin pigment is in feathers, the stronger they are.
It is both the first day of Spring and World Taxonomy day as I write this (although I’ll be sending it out the day after)! A nice fresh start to Strandline!
Did you find anything cool in nature the last year? Let me know!
Wonderful! Feathers…..so fine.