It Pays (Kinda) To Be Self-Employed

One of the things I really like about working for myself is having the flexibility to take time to bird. Of course, there's always a trade off. Bird or eat?

Audubon's Birding the Net has taken on a life of its own. Although I am getting the "have to do" work done, I am spending probably too much time birding in the virtual world. The only exercise there has been is my fingers hitting the keys on the keyboard. However, I have found some interesting web sites I wouldn't likely come across any other way such as http://florafaunafungi.com/.

Audubon seems to be trying to capitalize on the release of The Big Year movie with a social media game to encourage people to get interested in birding and to join the Audubon Society. Finding birds pretty much requires a twitter account, although there have been some bloggers consolidating the clues and putting them on their website, so that is another avenue. However, I don't know that this would allow a person to be timely enough getting the word to stay high in the rankings.

The game can be frustrating, but I have expanded the contacts in my "twitterverse," so it hasn't been a bad thing in that respect either.

I hold out little hope of finishing in the top 200 in the game, but one never knows--I've been up there once or twice. In the meantime, whether you play seriously or not, check it out. It's interesting to see another approach to introducing people to the world of birding.

Good birding!