July 31 Biodiversity Big Year Update

Hello Again,

Thanks again to Paul Johnson for hosting a moth event at Pinnacles National Park yesterday. It was a fascinating couple of hours witnessing so many nocturnal creatures and get a sense of life forms that we rarely get to see - since we're sleeping when they're out! Apologies for late notice, but the idea wasn't dreamed up until just a few days beforehand. Perhaps next year we can do something similar again.

I thought I'd take a little time today to take a look at the project totals so far for the year. As of this afternoon, we have collectively documented:

Plants = 470
Birds = 131
Fungi & Lichens = 27
Lepidoptera = 150 (to species)
Other Insects = 47 (to species)
Mammals =23
Dragonflies / Damselflies = 15 (including one only to genus, one only to family)
Reptiles = 17
Arachnids = 30
Amphibians = 7

Lepidoptera and arachnids (expanding upon original spiders target) are the groups most well documented relative to the original project targets I created. Thanks for the great efforts to all that have helped create records for these - let's see how much harder I should have made those targets! One group for which perhaps I made the target too high is plants, still working to reach 500, a great number, but perhaps not on track for 750 in one year. In my next post, I plan to list target species that I know are in the county but have not yet been documented in iNaturalist. For the time being, here are a few plants we don't yet have:
Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia braunii)
Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
Goldback Fern (Pentagramma triangularis triangularis)

For birds, we're probably on track to break 150, but below is a list of some that I know are around this time of year but there is not yet a record of in the project. Also keep an eye out for any shorebirds during migration (just picking up) and waterfowl as they begin to return to the area. There are several species in each group that here each year and have not yet been documented. For now, keep an eye out for:
Common Poorwill
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Western Wood-Pewee

Cassin's Vireo
Brown Creeper
Swainson's Thrush
Wilson's Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Purple Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

For those who haven't seen the news, the American Ornithologists Union split the Western Scrub-Jay this month into two species. The bird in our area is now known as the California Scrub-Jay. The interior form will be known as Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay.
http://www.audubon.org/news/here-are-biggest-changes-aou-checklist-north-american-birds

I'll aim to put out some additional future posts with information on "target species." Until then, happy exploring! It's a pretty amazing planet.

Cheers,

Daniel

Posted on August 1, 2016 12:33 AM by danielgeorge