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Oct. 16th, 2008
Two years ago: cockroaches
Oct. 16th, 2008 06:49 pmIt took until number 255 for me to finally profile a cockroach in my 365 Urban Species project. If I did the project again, for 2009 (which I am considering--with some trepidation) it would not take so long. In fact, given that the year begins with three and a half months of cold, lifeless bleakness, probably the 2009 project would begin with ninety different indoor pests.
Also, I can't contemplate writing about evergreen shrubs without wanting to vomit. No offense to the rhodies and yews and Alberta spruces and such, but I've accepted this about myself: I'm not all that interested in shrubs. (I don't blame it on the President.) They're hard to identify for several reasons and most of the ones in the city are exotic and not found in field guides, since most field guides don't consider the city to be "the field." All there is to write about, as far as urban species outdoors in Boston in winter, is evergreen shrubs, and the dozen or so species of birds perching in them.
If I do this again ("this" meaning "sacrifice at least an hour of free time every night for a year, and agonize every day over finding a new species and photographing it") I will concentrate on invertebrates, fungi, and weeds. I'm actually thinking that a new project might have to be called something like "bugs, fungi, and weeds," with apologies to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wirrrn for misusing the word "bugs" since there's no good synonym for "invertebrates" for normal, non nerdy people, although I do like drhoz 's coinage "blobs with no bones in." A little cumbersome perhaps, like that previous sentence.
Anyway, I found a new-to-me species of cockroach this week, that not even my exterminator friend was aware of. So even if I started the project using nothing but disgusting little animals that live indoors and scuttle from the light, that would take me to the third week of January or so.
Also, I can't contemplate writing about evergreen shrubs without wanting to vomit. No offense to the rhodies and yews and Alberta spruces and such, but I've accepted this about myself: I'm not all that interested in shrubs. (I don't blame it on the President.) They're hard to identify for several reasons and most of the ones in the city are exotic and not found in field guides, since most field guides don't consider the city to be "the field." All there is to write about, as far as urban species outdoors in Boston in winter, is evergreen shrubs, and the dozen or so species of birds perching in them.
If I do this again ("this" meaning "sacrifice at least an hour of free time every night for a year, and agonize every day over finding a new species and photographing it") I will concentrate on invertebrates, fungi, and weeds. I'm actually thinking that a new project might have to be called something like "bugs, fungi, and weeds," with apologies to
wirrrn for misusing the word "bugs" since there's no good synonym for "invertebrates" for normal, non nerdy people, although I do like drhoz 's coinage "blobs with no bones in." A little cumbersome perhaps, like that previous sentence.Anyway, I found a new-to-me species of cockroach this week, that not even my exterminator friend was aware of. So even if I started the project using nothing but disgusting little animals that live indoors and scuttle from the light, that would take me to the third week of January or so.