The long, philosophical version
Over the years I have spent my time as a naturalist, marveling at nature, its species, and its diversity. The Timeless Rivulet is now an effort to accomplish a new goal; sharing my experiences with others across the free range of the internet. This site will become an archive for one of my primary naturalist hobbies, pan-species listing. You will not find in-depth details of my forays, but what you will find is something that is (in my opinion) more interesting, which are reports of species I have never seen before.
Why is this interesting, you ask? Each species has its own specific preferences for certain niches and environmental conditions. That means there is always more to learn about any habitat from the great beech forests to a mountain summit. Whenever I encounter something different I've likely stumbled across another micro-niche, or another world if you will, that I haven't appreciated before. No matter how microscopic these worlds are these small niches as a collective are what form the most interesting and diverse biomes. It is not always the "pine forest" or "riparian" as a whole that is important, but rather the "shady area of the pine forest that faces north and receives 3cm of moisture each spring" and the "small sheltered spot of damp wildflowers adjacent to a particular 90-year old pine".
With the amount of variables from sunlight to moisture to soil quality to nearby organisms, the amount of possible microhabitats is theoretically infinite. And with that, there are an almost infinite amount of species to live in them. My goal is to appreciate not only appreciate the big, colourful creatures, but also the small and inconspicuous. Many species that I see have never been photographed before, or have not been documented at all for decades.
In some places I've walked the same 10 meter patch of trees almost every day. In that time I slowly learn the different niches, from the upper canopy to the lower branches to the lower trunk to the shady ground below, and what species are specific to one tree out of the ten, and why that species is specific to the proximity of that tree and none of the other nine. There is always something new to learn and that is something that drives my hobby even today.
Even if I don't find different species, I often find another "old" species in a place where I had not seen it before. Revisiting old species is another hobby altogether. The more you see a species the more you can appreciate how it behaves and adapts to both simple and challenging environments. However that itself is not the focus of this blog. But it goes to show how diverse not only nature is, but the naturalist hobby is itself...
The condensed version
Whenever I go out and see species I have not seen before, I'll post them as a report on this blog! Have fun!
