600?

  Blue Swedish Duck. It’s a little iffy recording it though.  It’s a domestic duck not normally found in the U.S.  There are two of them living in a city park across the street from Chatfield State Park.  I don’t have a problem that they’re domestic; I put in my sightings when I see domestic Muscovy ducks in a pond, or feral Indian peafowl, or red Junglefowl running wild in Key West. But those domestic ducks are listed in ebird.  These Blue Swedish Ducks are a little more difficult.  Ebird doesn’t have an exact match for Blue Swedish Ducks.  The domestic Blue Swedish Ducks are descended from wild Blue Ducks in New Zealand; and that bird does show up in ebird.  I’m recording my sighting of these two birds as Blue Ducks, with a note that they’re domestics.  600 species!  (for now)  We’ll see what the ebird moderator has to say about that. 

Another family day

 Becky and Brian, Taylor. Teigan, and Conner.  Matt and Lindsay.  Alex, Austin, and Arie.  Annie, Henry, Hobbes and a rat.  Judy and me.  (Except you can’t see me.)                 

See this?

   For our friends in South Texas, that’s called a Humidifier.  Sometimes, we up north actually put water into the air on purpose, if you can believe that. We came home to a relative humidity of 16%.  We broke out the humidifier.