Kicking Off a New Year

Happy 2016!

Yesterday marked the third anniversary of my first blog post.  When I started to write this blog, I didn't know where it would take me.  I just wanted to be able to answer questions that students ask me, to focus on local nature (plants, animals, geology, weather, etc.), and to occasionally highlight upcoming events in the local area.  I think overall I have kept to that goal, although I have expanded my scope and written posts about things as far afield as the UP, Wisconsin, and Maine.   My goal remains to highlight Mid-Michigan's habitats and wildlife.

Before I write a post I like to make sure that it is about something new and not a subject I have covered in the past.  Because I have written about so many different topics, this can sometimes be a challenge.  There are currently over 630 posts in the archives for this blog.

So what are people reading about here?

The five most popular posts in terms of pageviews have been: 

Leaves of three, let it be... What about leaves of five?   (published 26 FEB 2013 -  9,700 pageviews!)

Soil Particle Sizes - Sand, Silt, and Clay   (published 19 FEB 2014 -  with 3,575 pageviews)

Logging Tools Part 1 - Axe and Saw   (published 07 AUG 2013 -  with 2,968 pageviews)

Fungi!   (published 04 NOV 2013 -  with 2,638 pageviews)

Dogwood misidentification   (published 29 MAY 2013 -  with 1,607 pageviews)

Overall there have been  over 129,000 pageviews on this blog.  During each of the past two years, readership has climbed during the summer months and dropped off during the winter, with an all time high of 6,667 views in September 2015.  I think this can be attributed to more people spending time outdoors during the summer and researching the things that they find.

What's coming up in 2016?

I plan on doing another Wildflower Big Year like I did in 2014.  Not surprisingly, the more time I spend outdoors, the more interesting things I see and the more photographs I take.  I also plan on purchasing a new 100-400mm telephoto lens for my camera so I should be able to get better closeup photos of wildlife.  I also hope to be more consistent with posting - my goal is still to publish a post for every day that school is in session.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.