WildObs Observer 2.0 is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod, see here: http://wildobs.com/about/observer

WildObs Observer let’s you record your wildlife encounters (on or offline in the woods), but also let’s you :

• Browse all your records
• See what species are around your location, based off other observer’s encounters.
• Lookup a species by name (partial or scientific.)
• Browse (and comment upon) recent and featured wildlife encounters.

One thing I really enjoy, is that featured encounters are viewable on the home page. Check this and others out …

We had a glorious weekend here in Colorado. Warm, blue skies, just a perfect day for sitting on the deck after a morning’s kayaking at Gross Reservoir…

While out on the deck the Turkey were audibly and visibly very active; rooting around, gobbling at the world, even some chest bumping squabbles. Generally being Turkeys. A few times we heard their tone change, and felt they were on edge. That made us look more closely to see what was around…

First up came momma bear with junior (not a small bear itself) and we saw/heard them walk ‘through’ our thin fence and enter our yard. I wanted to move them on (not too aggressively, but firmly) so I wandered down the driveway making it clear they were not welcome inside the yard. In the years here we’ve interacted with many bear, so I was able to make my presence felt w/o getting too close, or putting myself in risk. Momma huffed at me a couple of times as junior climbed over there fence and then she followed him. She made it look to easy. Such a big bear, yet so nimble.

Not long after we one again heard the turkeys call, and looking down the hill saw yet another bear:

Bear traveling in opposite direction.

Apparently it was also a good day for bears to be out wandering.

To record your wildlife encounter with WildObs all you need are the what, where, when.

• What species did you see.
• Where did you see it.
• When did the encounter occur.

Here is a short video of the process on the website:

More WildObs videos can be found here http://youtube.com/wildobservations.

Some tips & pointers:

• Everything is editable, and things like descriptions, photos, videos can be added at a later date.
• Don’t worry if WildObs doesn’t find your species or location immediately, those can be refined later (including being added to the WildObs database.)
• Tags (keywords) are comma separated categorizations. E.g. first-of-season.
• Title and Description are optional, but do enrich the encounter.
• Syndicate means “this is more than the everyday encounter, it should be published as such”.
• Public/Private allows you to  record encounters, but not share them with anybody else.

Quickest Record Entry:

Record your Encounter (with context)

Whenever you see the following link button on the top right of a page you can enter a wildobs, and information from the page you are on will be used as defaults on that wildobs encounter. This can save both typing and look-ups.

• Species page: The species (what) is defaulted.
• Place page: The place (where) is defaulted.
• Encounter page. The species & place are defaulted.
• Image page. The photograph is defaulted.

For example if you’ve seen another encounter that you’ve posted before, you can press “Record your WildObs” on that encounter to carry over most of t he details (with the time changing to now.)

Thanks for sharing your wildlife, and guiding others to nature.

Peregrine Falcon photo courtesy Boulder OSMP

This year I applied to be a Raptor Nest Watch volunteer with Boulder Mountain Parks & Open Space. I found out about the opportunity on the Boulder county nature-net mailing list (from the Boulder County Nature Association) and found myself thrilled at the opportunity to monitor nests of eagles, osprey, falcons (and other species.) Bird of prey are so spectacular, and yet other than the few standouts like the eagles/osprey so hard to identify in the field (for the non-native birder, like me.) As such, ever since I applied I’ve been excited about what I’d learn.

I was lucky enough to be accepted into the program, and assigned a nest site not too far from my home, and in a beautiful location (not that they all aren’t around here.) I was assigned peregrine falcon, a bird I hadn’t even realized was around here. I saw my first Peregrine Falcon (at least first since perhaps in childhood) when in Cornwall, UK last year. I was hiking along the clifftops and a parent/offspring duo flew past me granting me a wonderful close-up. Having them here in Colorado, near my home, wow … awesome!

I’ve never been much of a joiner, and I like my nature empty (except for wild critters, my iPhone to record my wildlife, and my dog at camp) so this application was a first for me. Amusingly perhaps I’ve joined the volunteer program that suits this preference best, since observers perform their observation duties by themselves and exchange reports via e-mail. Still, I’ve met others in the team (for this site) at the orientation meeting and on a field trip, and both times enjoyed their company. It is nice to know who they are, to understand the pleasure we all share from the outdoors, and to get and share reports on the site. Working behind the computer of a day it is wonderful to be vicariously taken outside, to connect with this wildlife location.

My first solo trip for the weekly two hour observation duty met with decent weather, and clear skies. Falcons (other than Kestrels, which are partial migrants here) are only just returning to Colorado so there is not much falcon activity, however the Golden Eagle put in an appearance high above. A pair of these massive & majestic birds rode the thermals along the ridge-line (rising, tucking wings and diving to rise again as if having a roller-coaster of fun) before resting on the rocks above. Townsend’s Solitaire were the ‘dawn’ chorus, with American Robins soon taking over as the noise makers.

All in all a very pleasant time of putting the busy world aside for a while and sitting watching the natural world while contributing to natural science. I am so grateful of this opportunity, and am looking forward to the nesting season ahead.

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Note to those concerned: I’ve checked with OSMP on what I should (and should not) post on this topic, and now and during the nesting season will limit my comments to those that do not convey more information than can be found on the OSMP website.

Bald Eagle eating fish for supper

To end 2009 we took a family trip to Lake George, CO.

I went up early Christmas afternoon to get the icicles out of the cabin. I arrived shortly before dark and was welcomed by a couple of Bald Eagle. The adult had a fish, perhaps from the ice fishermen or perhaps from the South Platte river. The more cautious bird, apparently a juvenile, stayed behind.

Despite the low light these birds treated myself, and a couple of other wildlife lovers (who gathered in freezing temperatures to take photographs) to a nice close up.

Wow, what a present.

The time offline at the cabin was a wonderful family week of sledding, cross country skiing and ice skating and hiking in the hills. Amongst the tracks in the snow (and how I love reading the tracks to see what is where) I found & followed a pair of mountain lion tracks and vicariously enjoyed their stalking the deer.

At times the weather turned bitterly cold, and then the birds and critters came to the feeder. It was great to share the week with these guys…

Steller's Jay -- What's Up?

Fluffy Seed Eater

Abert's Squirrel ... don't get your tongue stuck!

With FaceBook, with Twitter, feedback mechanisms and all the online social mediums for conversations we’ve attempted to integrate WildObs into those social mediums not create yet another one. As such we resisted creating a forum system for WildObs, until now…

Some conversations are just not that social … they are quite specific, and not something to overload your friends and followers activity streams with. So, we’ve launched WildObs Forums with initially some pretty focused goals:

http://forums.wildobs.com/

Note: You use your WildObs username and password to access these forums.

Help & Using WildObs:

http://forums.wildobs.com/list.php?3

Wildobs Features: What would you like WildObs to do?

http://forums.wildobs.com/list.php?4

and because it is new/maturing/different, WildObs Mobile the mobile website:

http://forums.wildobs.com/list.php?9

Discussions on Wildobsing: Getting out and about and generally interacting with nature:

http://forums.wildobs.com/list.php?8

Please let us know if you have more ideas on forums you’d like to see here.

WildObsMobile for iPhone allows wildlife enthusiasts to enjoy the WildObs community; access featured, popular and recent encounters as well as look-up species.

Unlike WildObs Observer, which is  designed as an offline tool for field work, WildObs Mobile is an online tool for interacting with the WildObs Community. WildObsMobile utilizes minimal device storage.

Check out this free wildlife iphone application — and allow WildObs to help you find your nature:

WildObs Mobile 1.0 for iPhone

WildObs Mobile 1.1 for Android now supports Android 1.5 to Android 2.0 and beyond.

Here is a brief overview of WildObs Mobile including how to use WildObs Mobile for Android to:

• Browse community wildlife encounters (featured, most popular and recent.)
• Perform a species look-up by name or partial name, viewing photographs and other encounters.

Find out more about WildObs Mobile for Android or (if you are on an Android device) go to the market:

There have been a number of requests to for importing photographs previously uploaded to Flickr into WildObs, for use in describing a wildlife encounter. In short the process is:

• Go to your wildobs photograph gallery from your home page, and use the Flickr tab.
• Allow WildObs to connect to Flickr, authorizing it (typically once only) if needed.
• Select the photograph or photographs you wish to import.
• Create new wildlife encounters from one or more of these photographs.

Here is a simple how-to video on how to use this new feature. All feedback is welcomed.

View the wildlife that other observers are seeing around you. Knowing what to look for is half the challenge, and anticipation is much of the fun: