Gall Week 2023
Thanks everyone for participating in our 4th Gall Week event! We had the highest number of observers and observations so far, as you can see on our new umbrella project - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-umbrella-project
If you took any photos during Gall Week (9/2-10) you can still upload them and add them to the project, but please do not add later observations (of photos taken after 9/10). Now it's time to finish uploading your last photos and help identify galls, add annotations and field info (info here - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2023/journal/83717-gall-week-sept-2023-what-about-those-observation-fields)
You can still order the new Gall Week sticker designed by Chelsea Niles - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2023/journal/84074-gall-week-sticker
Also, I'd love to hear from people what were your favorite galls - either your own observations or someone else's, and what was your favorite adventure!
And one last thing - was this good timing for a gall week event where you live?
See you in the spring!
Merav
Comments
Thanks for hosting and having a sticker! September is a fine time here in Louisiana, though this year was tough because the extreme heat and drought has dramatically reduced populations of pretty much everything. My favorite was this Polystepha because the shape is just incredible and looks like fancy insect eggs to me. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182697441
I finally found today the top gall I was looking for during gall week! But I enjoyed the project and I appreciate all the work that everyone put in. And I will post my 'flange' galls soon, even if they didn't make it into Gall Week.
Excellent timing but maybe it could be continued a few days later next year? I only started finding a lot of gall wasps on the 10th and 13th.
@dragonfyre - where are you at? I know people in the East Coast of the US said the timing was better this year, compared with early October. Here in California, I think timing was great as well
Thanks to contributors and mostly to people in charge and experts IDing. Always fun thinking people elsewhere in the world are flipping leaves, looking carefully to certain species of plants, explaining to people they meet on trails what galls are, etc.
Nice to find Trigonaspis quercusforticorne and help experts developing their knowledge about this !
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182337991
And yes, I think, good timing for my area.
Thanks @merav for hosting another Gall Week, and everyone for participating! There were so many observations that I could barely keep up, but I was happy to see so many people also pitched in with each other's IDs. It takes a village to make this event successful, and I'm glad our village is growing bigger!
My personal favorite was this super cool mystery gall observed by @dlbowls
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181991600
@merav Thank you for hosting the event. I am in the Italian Alps but I still found plenty of galls!
Thanks Merav and everyone who contributed! Browsing the amazing finds is really fun. The collection is also a great learning tool, especially when there’s a note on host plants - many thanks to all who put in the effort because it really helps!
Among my favorites are the mystery galls and efforts to get DNA for identification.
My personal hurray! moment last week was when I finally saw galls on a Tansy. I had looked for them for a long time… https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182020358
From a European perspective, the timing was good. I was in wintry southern and north-east Germany for the Spring event and found nothing. Spring arrived very late there in 2023.
I had a great time this week, thanks for hosting another! I told a colleague what I was doing on Friday of the week, and on Monday he sent me a photo of some lovely Eriophyes tiliae from his parking lot: you mean these? yup, and a species I didn't manage to get. drat.
My big adventure was going to a local park where I had seen Andriscus quercusstribulanus in the past. I think they are really neat-looking. Only problem? It's been so wet they haven't mowed. It was the last day of gall week and absolutely pouring rain. So I wore shorts and crocs with no socks. But the paths were full of teartumb (Persicaria sagittata). Should be called tear-shin. I am still covered in tiny lines all over both legs (not to mention about 50 mosquito bites). But I found my galls! (and 16 other species I'd not gotten until then)
The earlier week this year was not good for us up here, or at least me. This time is was great timing for up here in the Northeast US. We had a storm and galls fell from trees in hundreds. I planned to participate on just the second day, but was challenged and then we competed each day for most galls. I was exhausted, but it was fun. I sent 196 intact oak/apple galls to Univ of Iowa for their study. Thanks for your work.
In west Santa Clara Valley, I found many, many more galls than I expected without having to search very long. I found more disc galls, convoluted galls, and red cone galls. I saw more clusters of galls (esp. red cone galls) than in the past. Last spring, I found hardly anything, though I searched farther and longer.
It was fun, thank you‼️
Add a Comment