Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2021: Winnipeg Region

Archivos de diario de mayo 2021

01 de mayo de 2021

Excellent first day - and a beautiful Saturday awaits

Our first day has had 622 observations uploaded so far by 25 observers. This is already three times the number of observations uploaded last year in the whole four days of the first weekend in May! Those observations represent 212 species so we are doing well on that front as well.

The cool weather yesterday seem to have cooled down any insect activity - so our insect observations are currently 19 observations of 9 species with no butterflies observed yet. Hopefully the warmer temperatures expected today will change that.

Plant observations are well ahead of what was observed last year - 346 of 130 species but there is still lots of species yet to be observed in the plant kingdom.

Amphibians are represented by a single observation. Frogs can be difficult to photograph at this time of year - but they can usually be heard calling fairly easily. Both phone apps now have an easy to use sound recording feature - so no fooling around with multiple pieces of equipment and software required anymore. Click on observe, choose sound and press the microphone icon to start the recording - easy peasy. If you aren't sure what frog you can hear calling - just choose Amphibia and we can sort it out during the identification phase. The same approach can be used for bird calls-- record the sound , choose Birds and then later we will figure it out together.

Thanks everyone who has helped out by working to identify other peoples observations - to rephrase Pogo , we have met the identifier and he is us. :)

Happy Saturday! Onward and upward!

Publicado el mayo 1, 2021 02:42 TARDE por marykrieger marykrieger | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

03 de mayo de 2021

One day left to make observations for CNC 2021 - a quick look at where we are now

Observations continue to arrive - I know I have a few more places to check out before the event ends - but I wanted to recognize our work to date.

At the time of posting in the Winnipeg region, 54 observers have collectively made 1,755 observations of 349 species. We have insects, spiders, reptiles, amphibians, mussels, snails, lichens, fungi, mammals, woodlice, worms, horsetails, mosses, flowering plants, ferns, birds, but no fish...yet. Fish are a little like the wind on the first weekend in May in Manitoba - you know they are there but hard to photograph.

Looking across Canada, our efforts are part of the 32,918 observations of 2,677 species contributed by 2,190 observers. Interestingly enough only 47 of these observations show fish - and I see a number of these that have depended on a bird to catch the fish :) With one day still to go, these results already surpass last years event in Canada - 23,223 observations of 2,299 species by 1,150 observers.

Globally things are also going swimmingly - we can see the collective results in real time for those cities using iNaturalist as their collection platform. 797,547 observations of 33,452 species by 42,232 observers at the time of posting. It was hoped that over 1 million observations will be added by over 50,000 people taking part recording over 32,000 species. - last years totals were 815,000 observations of 32,000 species - so looks like we have collectively exceeded last years event on the diversity of species already.

New Zealand is the first to start and now to the first to end so they are now working to finish uploading. Observations made during the survey period and uploaded before May 9th will still count towards the 'official' totals for the event worldwide. So feel free to photograph or record nature as you go about your Monday. One of the key insights of this event is how close we are to nature - even in places where it seems that humans have transformed the landscape completely.

Which reminds me to check - yep still an opportunity for someone to be the first to upload a photograph of a peregrine falcon in our survey area.

Publicado el mayo 3, 2021 01:47 TARDE por marykrieger marykrieger | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

06 de mayo de 2021

in the thick of identification...

Thanks to you all for wholeheartedly embracing the crazy idea of doing a bio-blitz at the beginning of May in Winnipeg. The 'official' tallies wont be taken until May 9th so if you have some straggler observations to upload there is still time. Its great to see the all hands to the pump approach to identification too!

Over at global CNC central, they are very happy to see that 1 million observation target exceeded already by a comfortable margin. In Canada, the current 48,000 plus number provides a reasonable expectation that next years CNC Canada numbers should break through the 50,000 ceiling - we do like those round number targets. they make such a satisfying swooch sound as all those zeros fall apart.

More later...

Publicado el mayo 6, 2021 11:28 TARDE por marykrieger marykrieger | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario