Are you having trouble collecting bee, butterfly, and moth observations? Check out these materials! This field guide will teach you where to collect observations, how to properly photograph specimens, and how to identify these insect species. Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) biodiversity cards will provide interesting information about species traits, conservation status, as well as identification assistance.

Quest introduction: www.drive.google.com/file/d/1XNxsujYoIaDlt62vWl-j-xCthtJgv03J/view?usp=sharing
Field species guide: www.drive.google.com/file/d/1hQO9J9A0sJfACoRwr0RJMuGpes5M0S67/view?usp=sharing
EOL biodiversity cards: www.drive.google.com/file/d/1dl_8pBvvk-shhA-9HjJDZcqNwAYXO6iC/view?usp=sharing

Are you having trouble making observations? Would you like to meet fellow nature enthusiasts? You should attend a guided observation event. Several researchers and organizations are hosting City Nature Challenge (CNC) walks and we want you to attend! You will work with other naturalists and citizen scientists to take quality observations and learn how to identify local species.

Wright Farm Spring Celebration

• When: Saturday, April 28, 12:00pm-3:00pm
• Where: 241 Grove Street, Lexington, MA
• Description: Celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day at Lexington's newest Conservation property! This land hosts a variety of pollinators and native wildflowers. Join this event to learn about pollinators and native wildflowers from land rangers and nature experts.

Kids, Bugs, Art: Make a Bee!

• When: Saturday, April 28, 1:30pm-3:30pm
• Where: Magazine Beach, Cambridge, MA
• Description: At this fun family event, you will learn about bumble bees and butterflies and apply what you learn to fun arts-and-crafts activities.

Learn more about these and other CNC events at:
www.zoonewengland.org/protect/here-in-new-england/boston-area-city-nature-challenge/calendar-of-events

Yesterday morning was the ideal weather for snapping photographs of species and CNC participants around the Boston Area really took advantage. Around noon, the rain rolled in which may have slowed some contributions, but we say congratulations to the participants that persevered through some gloomy weather to make almost 3500 observations on the first day of the 2018 City Nature Challenge! Together, 137 identifiers observed 498 species ranging all the way from Plymouth to Newburyport. Boston is well on its way to a top position in the rankings!

And congratulations to the 4 participants that provided 5 observations to the Early Flyers Project throughout the course of the first day of the competition! Of the ten Early Flyer species, two of them were spotted throughout the Boston Area today.

The most frequently spotted Early Flyer was the Common Eastern Bumble Bee, with a total of 4 observations yesterday.

A special shout out goes to @ebaitchman for observing both a Common Eastern Bumble Bee and an Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth! That is two out of ten Early Flyer species detected in one day by one observer.

During the next couple of days, let us aim to find the remaining eight species around the Boston Area. Right now, the sun is shining in Boston, so there is a high chance that Early Flyers are out and about!

Great job everyone, and keep the observations coming!

-ERB

Yesterday's simply stunning weather made it an absolutely amazing day for Early Flyer observations. In a single day, the number of sightings for this Data Quest tripled from what it was on Friday. Thank you all so much for all of your hard work!

Of the 10 Early Flyer species, 5 have been spotted so far. We're halfway there!

Here are some very special shout-outs to the observers who recorded the first of each species yesterday:
@mmulqueen for the first Bumble Bee and the yesterday's first Early Flyer observation
@fluxus for the first and only Mourning Cloak yesterday
@marc_albert for the first Eastern Tent Caterpillar
and @leashell for the first Gypsy Moth

Thank you also to @leashell and @leashellshusband for submitting the most Early Flyer observations yesterday.

Today is starting out a bit gray and a little rainy in some areas, but be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more Early Flyers. We're still missing Pug Moths, Canadian Tiger Swallowtails, Half-Wings, Red Admirals, and American Ladies.

In overall Boston City Nature Challenge news, we're in eighth place in terms of observations, but out of all the cities in the world, we have the third highest number of observers! Awesome work everybody!

We still have today and tomorrow to uphold and improve our rankings, so go out there and keep submitting those photos!
-HS

Though the weather was spotty yesterday with some passing rainstorms, CNC participants were still out BioBlitzing! Even with the rain, participants made 3,264 observations of 617 species!

Yesterday was very interesting in that only Common Eastern Bumble Bees were observed in the 9 observations. Fun fact: This bumble bee is very adaptable and can, therefore, live in country, suburbs and even urban cities! No wonder we saw them observed in Boston and all the way out to Sharon, MA!

Of the observations made yesterday, 8 out of 9 have already reached research grade! All in the course of 24 hours or less! Keep up the good work City Nature Challenge participants!

For the last day of the City Nature Challenge, keep an eye out for those 5 species of Early Flyers that haven’t been spotted yet: Pug Moths, Canadian Tiger Swallowtails, Half-Wings, Red Admirals, and American Ladies.

Now for some general City Nature Challenge updates: Boston is currently in 9th place, less than a thousand observations behind Houston. So don’t the let the dreary weather today keep us down. Keep observing and keep posting! Also, don’t forget to keep identifying observations May 1st to the 3rd!

Keep up the good work, everyone! Let’s make sure Boston stays in the top 10 of this competition!

-KD