Nice work, Amphibian Monitoring volunteers! So far, 10 individuals from 9 teams have recorded 29 observations of three different species. Let's see how many more we get this weekend!
Has your team monitored but not posted your findings yet? If so, please upload your photo and data as soon as possible to ensure that none of it goes missing.
Happy monitoring!
Hello Amphibian Monitoring teams!
There are a plethora of amphibian-related events coming up to attend with your team, family or friends:
Saturday, March 25 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Shadow Lake Nature Preserve
Celebrate World Water Day by spending an afternoon learning about wetlands! Use a real microscope to look at aquatic organisms, play nutrient tag, and take a tour of our 5,000-year-old peat bog!
Register here: http://shadowhabitat.org/Home/tabid/394/ModuleID/3879/ItemID/301/mctl/EventDetails/Default.aspx
Fri, March 31, 2017, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Festival of Frogs at Brightwater:
https://islandwood.org/event/festival-frogs-brightwater-0
April 8, Saturday, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Amorous Amphibians Nighthike at IslandWood:
https://islandwood.org/event/amorous-amphibians-night-hike-islandwood
Check out this observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5425951 Great job!
That observation has 2 great photos: egg mass is still in the water on the white board background with the dime for scale and the egg mass appears free enough of debris so that the photo can be identified. Our curators have let me know that some of the photos are a bit more difficult to verify - blurry or out of focus, detritus on the egg mass obscures the egg forms, background and egg mass are too similar (no white board used), or reference scale is lacking. If you are having difficulty with photos, check out some of the observations where our curators have weighed in and the observations are marked "Research Grade."
You guys and gals are doing great - keep up the good work!!
Well, the rain is still expected, but it's finally warming up past 41 degrees, making conditions better for surveys. Spring is starting to feel more like a reality than just a wish. Observations are starting to really pick up throughout the iNaturalist community in Washington and our project. And, our kudos this week go to @conwaysuz - nice photo and data fields in this observation http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5495428 Good survey!
Over the next few weeks, I'd like to introduce you to our awesome curators. We have some great experts supporting our project and helping volunteers identify what they see. These folks work for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) as professional biologists and researchers with deep experience in amphibians, aquatic habitats, conservation, community engagement and volunteer projects – we’re grateful for the time they commit to this effort.
Some of you may have already "met" one of our curators, communicating with him in the comments on one of your trickier egg mass identifications. Marc Hayes @demonpumpkin is a research herpetologist with 44 years of experience, the last 26 of which have been in the Pacific Northwest. He leads the Aquatic Research Section in the Habitat Program’s Science Division at WDFW. Marc has a great passion for amphibians and has been a lead researcher on Oregon Spotted Frogs for most of his career. Several folks on his team are also helping to review observations so we'll "meet" them in future journal posts.
Hope you're all having fun!
