2017 iNat-athon Highlights

A core group of 14 iNaturalist users attended most or all of the first iNat-athon held in and around the Sky Islands of Southeast Arizona. A full week enjoying nature with like-minded people in one of the most bio-diverse areas of the United States.

My biggest highlight of this adventure was getting to meet in person all of these great people: @jaykeller, @sambiology. @muir, @berkshirenaturalist, @silversea_starsong, @psyllidhipster, @nathantaylor7583, @bogslogger, @treegrow, @loarie, @th0th, @matthew_salkiewicz, @kueda. A few I had met previously, but others I had only known online through iNaturalist.

Though this trip was originally my idea, I need to share credit with others who helped make it a reality.
Once it was clear the trip was going to happen, I relied on @jaykeller to help plan the itinerary. Everyone brought a skill that they were happy to share with others, be it botany, entomology, herpetology, or simply taking photos of everything to make the project count high. @sambiology shared his enthusiasm and his awesome multiple blacklights. @berkshirenaturalist also took time to hang a light each night, plus I really appreciated his high skill at finding snails and slugs. @treegrow shared her knowledge of flies and had many of us looking anew at some spectacular little bugs. @muir brought his great sense of humor and sharp eye at finding animals that otherwise would have been overlooked. @bogslogger did a bit of road cruising for herps and taught us about the different ones we found. @nathantaylor7583 looked for spurges and found snakes along the way.

Saturday 8/19
@jaykeller and I arrived in Tucson and met many of the attendees at the hotel. Warming up for the official start the next morning, a few of us went around the hotel at night finding insects drawn into the lights, a few geckos, and even a toad.

Sunday 8/20
We headed to the Chiricahua Mountains, with our first stop at the Texas Canyon rest area in the Dragoon Mountains. Within five minutes @nathantaylor7583 found a first state record Euphorbia. As we started up the Chiricahuas @bogslogger handled a Black-tailed Rattlesnake to the delight of the group.

Monday 8/21
Chiricahua Mountains
A full day in the Chiricahua Mountains had @treegrow find what @silversea_starsong states may be a new US record for a lady beetle. More research needs to be done but the potential looks good. We watched the solar eclipse from Barfoot Park while listening to Mexican Chickadees calling from the pines.Lots of searching around the higher elevations during the day followed with a blacklight session in the evening.

Tuesday 8/22
The Huachuca Mountains and a bioblitz at the Coronado National Monument awaited us today. Lots of grasshoppers in the area colored with about every hue of the spectrum. At the bioblitz we met up with @skyislandalliance and @entomo-logic for a fun day and night filled with critters. @nathantaylor7583 struck again with another significant Euphorbia find, what may be a first US record.

Wednesday 8/23
Huachuca Mountains
At the top of Carr Canyon we found a previously known Tufted Flycatcher, a rare visitor to the US with roughly 7 previous reports and I think only 3 accepted by Arizona Bird Committee. Rained out at our desired blacklighting location, we moved to another where @loarie, @berkshirenaturalist and others headed into the muck and found frogs and toads that they brought back and shared with the group. Two Giant Vinegaroons were also found, spraying and letting everyone know how they received their common name.

Thursday 8/24
Patagonia and Pena Blanca Lake
Violet-crowned Hummingbird in Patagonia was perhaps the avian highlight of the day. In the evening and night at Pena Blanca Lake at least 25 Arizona Bark Scorpions were found in the area where we had blacklights hanging. Walking the roads there we saw Mojave Rattlesnake, Tiger Rattlesnake, and many frogs and toads.

Friday 8/25
Madera Canyon
@kueda went for a solo hike and came back with photos of the only Black Bear our group encountered during the week. This evening @bogslogger gave some lessons on snake handling and four of us handled our very first rattlesnake.

Saturday 8/26
Mt Lemmon
Our first planned location near the top was overrun with people so @treegrow took us to another place without the crowds. @berkshirenaturalist found a tiny native slug and obtained DNA. While waiting to see which direction a large storm was going to move, @psyllidhipster had many of us looking for, and finding, tiny psyllids. Once the sun set, @muir and his tireless roaming rewarded the group with a Sonoran Whipsnake. More scoprions, moths, beetles, and herps followed until it was time to head to the hotel and end the iNat-thon for the year.

Thank you to everyone for a great event.

Posted on September 3, 2017 12:05 AM by finatic