Mokka mit Schlag

Now that I’ve moved back to Brooklyn that pretty much closes out my BGBY effort for Orange County at 161, well short of the 200 species I was shooting for. 200 was a stretch but if I had had the extra 4 months, I could easily have added another 10-20 species. At least I managed to improve last year’s total by 2.

The silver lining is that now I get to start a new list for Brooklyn. (I suppose if I had bicycled across the country I could combine the two lists, but, as much fun as that sounds, I don’t have that sort of time or strength.) I’ve made a few excursions to Prospect Park (including 2 back in March) and I’m now starting the year with a very respectable 75 species:
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I missed Moth Monday last week because I was busy packing for my move back to Brooklyn, as well as trying to squeeze in a few more state birds in California. I didn’t quite hit 300, but Little Blue Heron and Semipalmated Sandpiper were still nice additions.

I’m now back in New York. Federal Express hasn’t dropped off the Firewire disk where I store my raw photos, but here’s a JPEG from 2007, and in honor of my return, it’s from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This is Hodges 7132, the Common Tan Wave Moth:

Common Tan Wave Moth, Pleuroprucha insulsaria
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge; August 12, 2007
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Not countable and thus not life bird #474 but I did want to see one before I left Southern California, and after asking a few local experts on OrangeCountyBirding, it turned out there was a population only about 10 miles away in the Santa Ana “River”, so I drove over to Huntington Beach this morning before work, walked up the levee, and in less than half a kilometer heard its metallic song. It took a few minutes to actually see it, but when I did it was unmistakeable:

As this photo proves, I still need a good, longer bird lens with a tele-extender. Now where are the Pin-tailed Whydahs?

I shoot raw with an EOS 50D. I display my pictures pretty much exclusively on the Web as JPEGs, and almost never print them. I import, edit, and catalog raw files in Adobe Lightroom 2.4 on a Mac with OS X 10.5. Of course many people who view my pictures use Linux and Windows as well.

What color space should I choose? sRGB or Adobe RGB, and when does this make a difference?
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Santiago Oaks Regional park in Orange has been one of the best sites for finding medium to large moths since I moved to southern California. This geometer from August 2 is Hodges #7114 – Idaea demissaria:

Thanks to Bob Patterson for the ID.
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Sophonia orientalis
Irvine, 2009-07-16

This introduced species from Taiwan shows up on my balcony occasionally. It’s a little less than half a centimeter long. The spots on its hindquarters are fake eyes. In the field at night they really do look like eyes, and consequently the bug appears to walk backwards.
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