I’ve been watching this discussion fairly avidly. I wouldn’t post any of my old nature drawings—while they’re usually dated, time stamps and field notes are missing, and I’d be kind of self-conscious even if I hadn’t seen what the various illustrators have been going through. (By the way, @nonbinary-naturalist, I love your Turkey Vulture!) I do have a recent one (relatively speaking; from this past September) that I’ve been waffling about posting: a chance sighting of an Abert’s Squirrel being chased across our yard by an Eastern Fox Squirrel.
Abert’s Squirrels are not really supposed to be in this part of Denver; they’re a Foothills-and-higher species, and we’re much closer to the Eastern Plains, with Ponderosa Pines kind of thin on the ground. That being said, there is one RG observation from our part of town. I know the species on sight, and that’s why I was kind of startled. I didn’t even have a cell phone available to grab a shot.
This seems, to me, to be the kind of observation that would be incredibly valuable to anyone studying range expansion, or even looking for vagrant species. How often do they stray? Is there a particular part of Denver Metro outside of their ususal range that they find hospitable? Are they hitchhiking with tourists? Nobody would even think to ask the questions if the data wasn’t there to prompt them. Is it the best data? Well, no; but a photograph wouldn’t have been either; trying to pull a focus with the speed at which the squirrels were moving would have been difficult at best.
I haven’t made up my mind yea or nay, although I’m leaning more towards ‘maybe I should post it’. And in the meantime, I’ll keep reading the development of the conversation. 