Last month I set a goal for October to do less, be mediocre, and be ok with that. I wound up doing more, successfully being mediocre, and still struggled with the being ok with that. The 'more' was spending a lot of time helping my mother with technology, trying to get out birding at a reasonable pace, all my usual meetings and activities and joining the Birdtober challenge.

In 2019 I joined the Inktober Challenge, a month-long art challenge that is focused on improving skill and developing positive drawing habits. This is big on the internet and in art groups. Since then, more challenges have popped up based on the premise of doing art every day in October. One nature group posted the Birdtober Challenge. Every day for the month, you create a piece of art based on the prompts provided and post it online. That sounded like a good idea at the time, and I suppose it was, but after the first couple of days it became more of a chore. When I made more time (3 to 6 hours!), the work came out better. Can you tell which ones?  On many days I didn't start until very late at night. I forced myself to JUST DO SOMETHING, anything. The results were mediocre, but that was part of my personal challenge just to be ok with that. I guess I could have quit after a few days as many do, but that is not me. Once I let go a bit, I found creativity even if only in 10-20 minutes before going to bed. I let go of fear of ruining a piece. I let go of judging the quality. I realized I can either fix it or scrap it and start again. It's not a big loss. I started to think of each day as a chance to experiment with my art supplies. I tried a few techniques that I had wanted to get to, but hadn't made the time. It was fun when I focused on the playing and not the result. Creativity starts with an idea but may end with something completely different. Surprise endings are fun. Don't ask me to do any other challenges for a while. You can see all my bird themed creations below. Any favorites?

Locally, there were some warblers gone off course in migration, notably east coast migrants Ovenbird, Blackpoll Warbler, and Blackburnian Warbler. Look closely at some of the Blackburnian photos and you will see that it was photobombed by a large mantid. As if these weren't exciting enough, a Wood Warbler showed up. For those who don't know, the excitement is that while this bird is common in Europe and is a trans-Siberian migrant, it has turned up in records in Alaska only eleven times. This was the first time one was recorded in the lower 48 states. I was not the one to find it. My friend Brad has permanent status from that find. Now you may ask, what is it doing here. Catching flies is all I know. About 100 people showed up to see it on the first day, and it stuck around for several more days with multiple hundreds of people coming from all around "twitching" to see it, including several from other states. For me, seeing all the people is part of the total experience. The younger birders were hopping fences to try to get a better look when it flew over a fence into the neighboring cemetery. This must be the 'rarest' bird I've seen. And best of all, this was just a mile and a half from my house.

The hills were very dry, and the day was cool for my butterfly count, so the numbers were low. Of course I don't limit myself to butterflies, although I do try to stay on task. One of my favorite spiders, Banded Argiope (Argiope trifasciata) was abundant. We also amused ourselves trying to identify scat, mostly Mountain Lion I think.

Happy Nature Walks.

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Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace. Links open in a new tab.

Local Stuff:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_oct_2022   

Butterfly Survey Irvine Ranch:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/irc_oct-2022

Birdtober:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/birdtober_2022