First, I should start off by announcing that the latest I and the Bird is up at Wrennaissance Reflections. Wren has categorized the various posts into all the different aspects that make up “the joy of birds.” Definitely worth a read, pop over and check it out!
Beth of Beth’s Stories did me the great honour of choosing my blog of the 100-odd she follows to include in a blog-recognition meme. At the very least I’d like to thank her and return the linkage (worth checking out, if you don’t know her already – she’s one of my daily reads). But further to that, it’s a good opportunity to recognize some other worthy blogs.
The rules of the meme are thus:
1. Choose a max of 5 blogs (we could all probably list our entire blogroll, but then you might as well just point people at your blogroll).
2. Four of the 5 have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world (the definition of “another part of the world” is left to your discretion).
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award (fair’s fair! If they’re sending traffic your way, the least you can do is thank them by sending traffic back theirs. Hopefully you also like their blog, too).
Since I discovered the amazing convenience of Bloglines.com, a blog feed reader that keeps track of all your blogs for you and lets you know when new posts go up, so that you don’t have to check dozens of pages every day, since I discovered that the list of blogs I follow has inched up to 50. I could easily follow more, and will probably end up adding additional blogs to the reader because there’s so much good writing out there. And that’s just for nature blogs. If you have any doubt about the prolificity of nature blogs, simply check out the Nature Blog Network. When I signed up to it, when the network was just a couple weeks old, back in February, I was right at the bottom, #68 I think. Now, there are 440 blogs in the network, and more being added every day. My blog bobs up and down on the list, sometimes in the 50s, sometimes in the 60s, once as high as #48, at its lowest about #105. It uses the average of the last 10 days to calculate your average number of visits, so it can vary a fair bit from one day to the next. I think a fair number of my visitors are people who Google for information on various species, but I like to think that many (most?) are dedicated readers of my blog.
Some of the blogs on my reader are very well read by others, and some have a much more limited following. The latter are generally because they’re relatively new, rather than due to lack of content (I wouldn’t invest the time in following a blog that didn’t have interesting content – and on dial-up, it is something of a time investment!). The ones at the bottom of the Nature Blog Network list are there either because they don’t post often or don’t post good content, or they have good content but few views simply because they haven’t been around long enough to be discovered and develop a readership.
The five I’m choosing, therefore, are all younger or less frequently followed blogs that I think are worthy of a stronger readership (currently they all rank on the 4th page of the Nature Blog Network, or lower – they deserve to be higher than that!). They have all, at one time or another, commented on my blog so I know they do or have read it periodically. I encourage all my readers to check them out, and leave a comment if you like what you read.
In no particular order:
Huckleberry Days – If you like my blog, you’ll enjoy reading this one. Styled in the same vein, profiling different species and phenomenon of interest, this blog fulfills the #3 rule as well – Huckleberry found me within the last month (or at least started commenting then), and lives on the far side of the continent, out in British Columbia.
Beetles in the Bush – Ted is a regular reader, but also maintains an excellent blog of his own. He posts less frequently than some, but this is where the convenience of the reader comes in – you’ll never miss a post because you forgot to check in. As the name implies, the blog is all about the wonderful world of beetles. And there’s no shortage of them to talk about!
From the Faraway, Nearby – One of my favourite things about this blog is the address – a nod to a favourite cartoon of mine when I was young, the Adventures of Tintin. Indeed, T.R. (as noted in his profile, but is it so hard to guess his name?) travels for a living, and his exploits are chronicled here. Most recently, he had the good fortune to be able to visit China to attend the Olympic Games. Lots of good photos and interesting stories.
Roundtop Ruminations – Carolyn lives out in the forested mountains of Pennsylvania. Her observations of life in the Pennsylvanian forests are interesting and enjoyable to read, and offer a different perspective on rural life than most people get.
Voice of the Turtle – And finally, after long deliberation on who the last blog should be, I settled on this one. Although not a nature blog, Turtle is a gifted writer, and her entries are sprinkled with frequent stories and limericks. Her corgis and family figure prominently in her posts, she runs occasional contests (prize: a 500-word story on the subject of your choice), and generally offers an upbeat view on life. She’s also one of my most dedicated readers.
All worthy recipients; I hope you go check them out!
seabrookeleckie.com 
thanks for info
A nice surprise! Thanks for mentioning Huckleberry Days!
Oh, my goodness, look at that! Thanks, Themarvelousinnature! I have been so crazy-busy this past week I’ve barely had time to look at anyone’s blogs, and was just glancing at your photos and promising a thorough reading of your stuff tomorrow, when I noticed my blog’s name.
While in a backyard near Dundalk this week, I saw this big, fat, round-bodied, light-green-with-blotches spider on the frost fence, and I thought, “Themarvelousinnature would know who this is.” It’ll be nice to have a little free time again to read your blog.
Thank you, Seabrooke – your mentioning my blog is really appreciated, and I’m glad to know you have enjoyed reading it (as I do yours).
My (longer) posts seem to take it out of me for a week a little while, and it takes another bit of time working on the next post before I’m happy with it. I could post more frequently if I kept them shorter and did no research, but that’s not my style – I do it as much for me as anybody!
Regards — Ted