To everything... turn, turn, turn.
Tern, tern, tern?
There is a season... turn, turn, turn.
Everything has a life cycle. Dawn Chorus is entering a new phase in its cycle.
Though it's been obvious to me for a while that I couldn't sustain this, I also couldn't bear to give it up. I like the people here; it's a great way to kick off a week.
Unfortunately, it's also a demanding end to most weeks. When I started Dawn Chorus in 2007, I had a lot of time for writing. My job situation has since changed for the worse, then changed for the better earlier this year. But the changes have left me with less free time - less free time for writing, and less free time for birding (i.e., something to write about).
When Dawn Chorus started, it was a bit of an outlier here at DKos. There were occasional diaries about birds, but no regular predictable outlet for avian interests. I looked to Frankenoid's Garden Blog and Mark Hall's Marine Life series as inspirations.
Now we've got other options, most notably the Daily Bucket. It's not 100% birds, but enough so that we can get a fix.
I really like having a regular time to "flock up" on Sundays, but many weeks I can't manage much original content. As great as recycling is in real life, I don't like doing it here too often. It's tough to say something interesting when you've got nothing to say.
I will continue to write bird diaries when possible, and will probably post them in this same Sunday morning time slot. I'm hoping to do something monthly at least.
It was especially great to meet so many of you in real life. I hope you enjoyed saying hi to each other as much as I did. And if any of you will be in the Bay Area, get in touch. It would be great fun to get together another outing.
Thanks so much to everyone who joins the chorus, regularly or occasionally. You make this place so much fun, and it's so great to hear your stories and see your photos. Maybe someone else will be inspired to start a new series. Or maybe we just do a weekly open thread. It would be nice to have a place to gather.
Let's get going on those 2015 year lists!
Last lifer of 2014 - LeConte's Sparrow at Abbots Lagoon, Point Reyes.
12:12 PM PT: Thanks for all the kind words... I really appreciate it.
It sounds like there's interest in doing a Sunday morning open thread, with occasional content-ier* fare, which sounds great. Take a look next week.
(If truthiness is a word, than so is content-ier. So there.)