Goals for 2009

At the beginning of each year many people take a few minutes to figure out some New Year's resolutions. Most people do not put much thought into them because they do not really intend to follow through, at least not for very long. I do not do resolutions but I have been thinking for the past few days about some goals that I would like to accomplish in 2009. Here is what I came up with.

1) Build a website to work in conjunction with the blog. This will probably start out simple, I am still pretty green when it comes to HTML, but I would like to build it up so that at some point it can become a reference and educational tool, kind of following the spirit of the blog, for people who care about birding and nature.

2) I made a goal about the middle of last year to try and make a post every day. As a blog reader I know that the blogs that I visit frequently are the ones that have regular content. I succeeded in that goal, I have posted every day since June 5, 2008, but this year I am looking to take things a bit further. Two posts every day would be a little too much but I am going to try and get over 400 posts for 2009.

3) I have been participating in a lot of memes lately, I think that they are a great tool for bringing new people to the blog and hopefully some of those visitors will like what the see and return. I think that I have a good idea for a new meme and I plan to launch it sometime early in 2009, maybe as part of the new website.

4) One of the memes that I have been participating in lately is Today's Flowers. I have found that I took a lot more pictures of flowers and plants then I thought I did, but so far I have been lax in the meme and have not really followed through and identified the flowers or found any facts to pass on. In 2009 I plan to spend some time learning my flowers and plants. Will be an expert on botany? I don't think so but like many of the other things that I post about we can all learn together.

5) In the summer of 2007, shortly after I began the blog, I began shooting dragonflies during the height of summer when the birding was slow. Last year I got a lot more interested in photographing dragonflies and actively sought them out. In 2009 I am going to make an effort to try and photograph as many of the species that have been reported in the state of Minnesota as possible, that is over 100 different types.

Speaking of dragons here are some dragon shots that I took back in August, 8-11, at Purgatory Creek.

Eastern Pondhawk
Four-Spotted Skimmer

Once I have my Minnesota collection I will try and branch out and get some of the other types from other places around the country. Of course dragons will have their own section on the future website, which will hopefully help other people to learn about these raptor like insects.