CBEC BioBlitz!

Welcome to the first CBEC BioBlitz journal entry!

About two dozen intrepid naturalists met on the morning of October 5 at the CBEC Visitor's Center. Some were local, but we came from all over (Kent Island, Easton, Takoma Park, Alexandria, Bowie to name just a few). Some people were new to CBEC -- hopefully this was the first trip of many! See http://www.bayrestoration.org/ for a calendar of events.

As of my writing this on October 10, 13 participants have added 172 observations, identified as 46 species. We expect this number to keep growing as people continue to add observations and seek identifications from the universe of naturalists and experts who inhabit iNaturalist.

Some notable highlights so far (open the blue links below to see observations):

Boxed turtles were the most commonly observed species: 6 people have uploaded turtle observations so far. One individual was enduring a large swelling on the side of its head. Mike (mikemq41) says this is caused by a parasitic sarcophagid fly ("flesh fly"), and Matt (muir) thinks he may have found the fly species name: Cistudinomyia cistudinis.

The lone glossy ibis in Knapp Lake was popular, observed by three of us. It's a bit unusual for ibises to be in our area this late in the season. Glossy ibises are more frequently seen in Queen Anne's county in August and September. We won't see them again before they pass through our way again in April and May. See seasonal data from the website eBird.

We've had 56 observations tagged as plants so far! Don't forget to visit your observations to consider and/or agree if other people have suggested identifications for your plant observations.

Posted on October 10, 2013 04:20 PM by muir