I wouldn’t mind being given a warehouse, fully paid off. Similar to Ben Azelart’s Warehouse link just with half of the space being rows and rows of my collection. Reference specimens and all! Plus an office, small bedroom, a room for terrariums, multi-season beetle breeding chambers in a basement, rock wall, library, music room for playing my guitar, and a few guest rooms. That would be something I would love to have for any occasion where presents are given. Then I wouldn’t need another present other than more insect pins in my life! : )
I’ve been working on a new tool for botanists and iNatters. It’s a ruler that includes grayscale and color bars for contrast and color correction. It’s only $1.50 with free postage and proceeds benefit the Nevada Native Plant Society. https://nvnps.org/node/527
I have a friend who is a wool felt artist and a naturalist. From a huge head trophy to a small pin she can create a wool felt version of the species of your choice. For example Danaus genutia:
Maybe? It’s solid plastic so water shouldn’t hurt it. I’m not sure if it’s buoyant, but if it is, you could glue a coin or washer to the back to make it heavier. The plastic is thin enough that you can punch a hole easily and attach a lanyard so it doesn’t get lost.
I realy like the Bird Songs Bible! Though it can’t realy be taken out in the field, its a good way to find bird calls and song you don’t know yet.
I also like the other field guides in this photo but some are less convenient than others. The Birds of Pennsylvania book only has some of the PA birds, but it has real photos. Same thing with the Field Guide to Insects and Spiders.
I have other field guides I use on the same things as the ones that are more limited.
I mentioned this before: A pair of Pentax Papillon II binoculars for close-ups of butterflies and flowers. In addition to watching birds in trees farther away, this jewel lets you appreciate details of wings from a distance of 50 cm. I find this wonderfully small, light, handy tool so much more useful than loupes: https://www.amazon.com/Pentax-8-5x21-U-Papilio-Binocular/dp/B00SKO4AUY
Incidentally, a great gift for elderly or otherwise impaired naturalists who aren’t that mobile any more. I gave one of these to a friend who had just had a knee replaced so she can observe stuff while remaining in an upright position.
@jdjohnson I love your ruler, and especially that it’s in centimetres – essential for us metric types in Europe.
The five I have ordered have arrived this week, and they are just GREAT!
I carry a thin, short metal ruler in my camera bag, which is good enough most of the times, but it is shiny and reflects light. Often it appears washed out in pictures when the angle of light is wrong and the engraving becomes illegible. This plastic ruler doesn’t have that shortcoming! And having those squares helps A LOT when not wearing glasses (I need glasses to see, but shoot without). Being wider than my metal ruler, it is also easier to locate in the camera bag. And the colour swatches are IDEAL to get the colour of, say, a flower even when the colour rendering in the camera happens to be off (flowers that seem to be pink while you remember them bluish). Apart from the fact that the white parts of the ruler can be used to adjust the WB. Also in post-processing.
In summary – very neat ruler! Thank you!
Terrific, I’m glad they arrived so quickly! And I’m glad you like the design. I went through many variations before I settled on this one. If you want to trim it so the mm marks are closer to the edge, I’ve found that a rotary paper cutter works really well and leaves a straighter edge than scissors.
