Mon@arch's Nature Blog Added to Blogs

Mon@rch's Nature Blog has been added to the list. Several people contribute to the content. The primary author is Tom: He has 15 years of experience in the Environmental Education and Field Biologist field. He received his bird banding permit in 1998, became a certified bird bander by the North American Banding Council in the fall of 2003, is currently the crew leader for a Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) station; Principal Investigator in looking at the changing butterfly fauna in Allegany State Park, NY and the status and ecology of the Northern Saw-whet Owl in Allegany State Park, NY.

Other authors are Pat Coate, volunteer, and several young naturalists.

A Passion for Nature Added to Blogs

The blog "A Passion for Nature" by Jennifer Schlick, WinterWoman, has been added to the roll. Jennifer is a a teacher-naturalist living and working in Western New York. She shares a passion for hiking with me. Her usual haunt is the Finger Lakes Trail.

Gail Birdtale Added to Blogs

Today, I am adding Gail Birdtale's blog. Gail and husband Ferd live in North Carolina, and they like hiking and birdwatching. Gail takes great pictures of the wild visitors to her back yard, with occasional appearances from her cat.

Created Graphics for Use by Included Blogs

Today I finished creating small banners that member bloggers can use to link to this site, and began notifying them. This brings the number of blog posts to five, so I can now apply to have this blog added to Entrecard.

Going Public Today

Tonight I will start publicizing this list, and work on getting it added to several blog networks. All 20 Charter Inductees have been contacted, and some have responded that they are glad to see such a collection.

Contacting the 20 Charter Inductees

Today I finished adding the links to other sites of mine that I would like to promote, and will begin contacting the 20 bloggers that I have selected to the the Charter Inductees! There won't be a limit to membership. It's more a case of how many appropriate blogs I can find.

I see that two of my choices have not posted for several months, but I'll leave them in the list. The sorting will just drop them to the bottom anyway.

The one thing I am really sorry about is that Birding the the Falkland Islands doesn't seem to have a feed, so it is sitting permanently at the bottom of the list. I'll see if the blogger can provide me with one.

Adding Features and Monitization

Not being independently wealthy, I have added monetization features to this blog today, created a 125 x 125 banner for Entrecard and added some ads of my own. Still looking for more good blogs to include! It must have 5 posts to be approved by Entrecard, so I'll be tracking my progress to make it "public ready" for the next few days.

Kicking Off This Idea

I have wanted to be able to do this for quite some time. There is really no where that blogs devoted to nature are collected well. Most hubs for outdoor blogs also include hunting and fishing, and many other outdoor activities. Although I enjoy many of these pursuits, I wanted to be able to isolate blogs that focus on the kinds of things that would have appealed to the 19th century "Naturalist." In other words... looking at the plants, animals, geology, sky, waterways, and all the natural features of the world, just for their own sake. I found a way to create a feed with selected blogs through NewsGator, which could then be read into a web site. Of course, before I got that site created, they discontinued this and advised people to use Google Reader. But I couldn't find a way to channel Google Reader to a different site. Then last night it hit me! Just use a blog format but make the Blog Roll the dominant feature. This is the initial launch, and I will see how well it is received.