Dear Friends, Observers, Identifiers

First, apologies for the delays in posting the final results of India's Nature - Monsoon Beauty 2022

Our very small team of organizers and volunteers have run into some technical difficulties.

In a few days we will be posting the final results and as much as feasible of an analysis of the observations and highlights.

Meanwhile, this is the concluding blog for Beetle Mania 2022

India's Nature - Beetle Mania 2022 - Conclusion

Thank you for your understanding

for any queries to write to @ram_k via the inat messaging system.

Sunday 4th September 2022

Today is the last Day to collect observations for Monsoon beauty 2022

You may submit your observations till Friday 9th September 2022

Event Schedule for Monsoon Beauty 2022

• Start of Event Sunday 03/07/2022 (00:00 AM)
• End of Event Sunday 04/09/2022 (11:59 PM)
• Final Submissions by Friday 09/09/2022 (5 days for processing and submitting observation taken during the period)
• Final Totals and Tabulations Sunday 11/09/2022
• Certificates Sunday 25/09/2022

Screenshot from the presentation

Introduction to Beetles - Zoom Talk by Dr Amol Patwardhan

(Beetle Mania 2022)

Time: Aug 21, 2022 04:00 PM Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi

Speaker : Amol Patwardhan, Ph.D

This is the link to the presentation on youtube

Notes on the Zoom Session

The sessions started with some introductions to Beetle Mania 2022 , India's Nature - followed by a detailed introduction of Dr Amol Patwardhan and Flabeller Ecoservices LLP.

In the Initial part the video is in Zoom Gallery Mode (apologies) and after a while the presentation appears in full screen - being new to zoom we did not realize that the video would capture gallery view.

Notes on the Talk

• Dr. Amol Patwardhan, made the presentation via zoom. This 1st talk kickstarted Beetle Mania, 2022
• There was an peak audience of 82 people
• Following the presentation there was an active and interested Q & A session
• Concurrent to the presentation there were a lot of questions posted on the Chat and responses were made primarily by Harshad Parekar (Flabella Team) and Ram.

Some Notes on Beetles Collated from the talk

About Dr Amol Patwardhan

• He currently works with the Department of Zoology, Somaiya Vidyavihar in Mumbai.
  He does research in Zoology, Systematics (Taxonomy) and Entomology
  

Key Points

• Talk centred around how to identify beetles based on looking at its body forms for a lay person and its importance to our ecosystem, their diverse forms and the insufficient identification of beetles done till date.
• Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera. The word beetle stands for little biter, they have sheathed wings, the outer structure of beetles is actually its skeleton.
• One can ID beetle from their

There is a lot more in the actual presentation, and hope you find it as useful as some of us in the live audience did.

Resources for the event were supported by Uma , and S Kalyanaraman

Another Screenshot from the presentation

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

(Beetle Mania 2022)

Time: Aug 21, 2022 04:00 PM Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi

Speaker : Amol Patwardhan, Ph.D

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83126716421?pwd=WnplQThYTmlIV1VoN3RrMDQ0MnJCZz09

Meeting ID: 831 2671 6421
Passcode: 503770

Inviting you to Beetle Mania 2022

An inaugural event to celebrate these jewels of nature, and to understand more about beetles

Schedule

21st August 2022

An online talk, by Amol Patwardhan & the Flabella Team, is scheduled 4 to 5 PM. See the talk on youtube here while this is the journal report

27th August 2022

Online Zoom Talk on Beetle Diversity in the Himalayas,
Speaker - Dr. Kailash Chandra, Former Direction Zoological Survey of India
and A leading Entomologist & Beetle Expert. Details are here

Details of the event and to Register follow this link

22nd to 28th August - Inaturalist Event

The observation event live on iNaturalist

Inaturalist event some norms

1. Top observers and identifiers__ will receive a surprise gift while participants meeting a basic minimum (50 observations ) will receive participation certificates.
2. Other norms on ethics would be as per the norms for Monsoon Beauty 2022
3. Observations Counts from Beetle Mania 2002 would be counted towards Monsoon Beauty 2022

Beetle Walks

Proposed in:

1. Munsiari, (Himal Prakriti & India's Nature )
2. Dehradun (Titli Trust)

More Beetle walks are being organized - the full list of places and contacts to be uploaded soon)
( In case any group would like to organize a beetle walk and would like the information to be disseminated kindly write to @ram_K on Inaturalist or email indias.nature01@gmail.com

Details of Partnering Groups

*DiversityIndia
Area of Work – India
Contact:
Persons : Vijay Barve @vijaybarve
Phone: +91 98457 24832 (Whatsapp)
Email : Vijay Barve vijay.barve@gmail.com
DiversityIndia DiversityIndia@gmail.com

East Coast Conservation Team

Area of Work : Andhra Pradesh Coasts
Contact Person: Sri Chakra Pranav (Coordinator Andhra Pradesh) @srichakrapranav
Contact details:
Phone no.: +91 99013 28731
Email - eastcoastconservationtrust@gmail.com
Website:
Instagram - https://instagram.com/eastcoastconservationteam?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Flabella Ecoservices LLP

Area of Work - Maharashtra / India
Contact Persons :
Amol Patwardhan; +91 98209 62452 @amolpatwardhan
Harshad Parekar; @beetlemaniac
Drashti Danani
Email : flabella.ecoservices@gmail.com

Himal Prakriti – A trust for Nature

Geographic Reach: Munsiari, Uttarakhand
Contact Person: Trilok Singh Rana @triloksinghrana
Contact details:
Email: ranatriloksingh30@gmail.com ,
himal.prakriti@gmail.com,
Phone no.: +91 8937978148 (also whatsapp)
Website:
Instagram –@voicesofmunsiari @himalayanark

Nature Mates-Nature Club

Geographic Reach: State of West Bengal
Contact Person: Arjan Basu Roy
Contact details: naturemates@gmail.com
Phone no.: 9874357414
8240781459
Website: naturematesindia.org
Instagram - nature_mates_nc

Nature Science Initiative

Area of Work – Uttarakhand
Contact Persons : Soumya prasad
Phone:
Cell: +91 75791 84123 (Whatsapp)
Tel: +91 135 2651654
Email :
nsi@ naturescienceinitiative.org
prasadsoumya@gmail.com
Website: https://naturescienceinitiative.org/

Titli Trust

Area of Work – Nature Education, Conservation
Contact Persons : Sanjay Sondhi @sanjaysondhi
Phone: +91 94120 52189
Email : sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com
titlitrust@gmail.com
Website - https://titlitrust.org

Volunteers

1. Jennifer
2. Mehar Arunika
3. Aastha Tewari

**
Looking forward to your participation.
Ram @ram_k
India's Nature
on Behalf of
Team Beetle Mania 2022

Invitational Poster for your viewing pleasure

**

India's Nature: Monsoon Beauty 2022

Bio-diversity observations during the Monsoon Months in India  (Sunday 3rd  July to Sunday 4th September 2022)

In 2021, from July to September , 107 observers  contributed 36,263 observations (4915  Species)  while 1,256 identifiers helped with identification and corroboration of the observations. Follow this link To know more about the first Monsoon Beauty event here more about India's Nature - Monsoon Beauty 2021  and see some of  the amazing observations here , while this journal documents some of the interesting happenings, some outputs and some of the awards and recognition.

Event Schedule for Monsoon Beauty 2022

• Start of Event Sunday 03/07/2022 (00:00 AM)
• End of Event Sunday 04/09/2022 (11:59 PM)
• Final Submissions by Friday 09/09/2022 (5 days for processing and submitting observation taken during the period)
• Final Totals and Tabulations  Sunday 11/09/2022
• Certificates Sunday 25/09/2022

Sub-Events & Weekend Madness

Inaugural Sunday

Sunday 03/07/2022

National Moth Week 23rd to 31st July

Last July Weekend  Saturday 30/07/2022 to Sunday 31/07/2022

Independence Day Weekend

(August) Saturday 13/08/2022 to Sunday 14/08/2022

Beetle Mania and Beetle Day 2022

Proposed / Subject to some changes based on Community Recommendations

• Beetle Mania Week Monday 22nd August to Sunday 28th August 2022
• Beetle Day Sunday 28th August 2022

Big Butterfly Month India (BBMI) September 2022

• BBMI Weekend / Conclusion Weekend - Saturday 03/09/2022 to Sunday 04/09/2022

Regional Groups / Support Groups

We hope that Monsoon Beauty is a trigger to help new and budding naturalists join Community Science Initiatives. We would like to encourage experienced Naturalists to organise weekend walks (and talks)  and provide support to budding naturalists.
 

Currently Organized Regional Groups

1. Uttarakhand (Mukteshwar and Munsiari) (@ram_k, @negi @rajkoranga),
2. Telangana (Hyderabad) - (@kashif_ali, @vijay_dixit, @odonut)
3. Karnataka (Bengaluru) - (@arvintrix)

To volunteer a walk or event kindly direct message @ram_K or send an email to indias.nature.01@gmail.com

Guidelines and Awards**

Categories**

(Individual Observers or Identifiers Only)

Category 1. Most Observations - Overall 1st.

(Award One Natural History Book , and a choice of one poster or two pamphlets )

Category 2. By Location  - Rural

(Award One Natural History Book)

Category 3. Most Observations -  in any States or Union Territories that have less than 3000 observations

(Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Tripura)
 (Award One Natural History Book)

Category 4. Most Observations by a Women Observer

(Award One Natural History Book)

Category 5. Most Observations by a New Observer

(Joined after 1st June 2022 and has less than 200 observations at the start of the programme) 
(Award One Natural History Book)

Category 6 . Most Identifications - Overall 1st.

(Award One book)

Category 7 Beetle Mania - Most Identifications, and Most Observations

(Award - One book each)

Second and Third Place (All categories including identifiers)

Award -  One poster on Birds or a choice of two pamphlets

Certificates of Participation to all qualifying observers (150 observations) and identifiers (300 identifications)

Guidelines / Norms

1. The event is powered by Inaturalist, To participate one has to join iNaturalist as a user and wthen join the project.

a) Participants must be an Individual (not an institution, club, joint account etc)

1. Rules for Adding Observations
   must be observed on or after 2022-07-03 (Starting at 00:00 AM)
   must be observed on or before 2022-09-04 (Ending 11:59 PM)

2. Contribute a minimum 150 observations (or 300 identifications) to qualify for any of the award / honour categories. Honour and Participation Certificates to all qualifying observers / identifiers.
3. |Suggested Ethical Guidelines](https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qxw3HJad_ND_w1osmK3IGXwZ38xABNw/view?usp=sharing) for nature observation to be followed
4. Number of days in which observations are made, and number of Research Grade observations would be used in case of ties.
5. Awards – in case a person is eligible for an award in more than one category they would receive an award for only one, and in the highest category they are eligible for.
6. Coupons / Cash Transfers would not be provided in lieu of the awards.
7. If there are no qualifying participants in any of the categories then that award would be reallocated or scrapped.
8. Identifiers are expected to follow the suggested iNaturalist guidelines. Award for identifications would be based on Research Grade identifications as a strong conditionality. Spam identifications would be strongly discouraged.
9. Adherence to precautionary local and national pandemic guidelines is highly recommended
10. The event is not a competition  but is intended to promote an appreciation for nature, and engender mutual respect among the  diversity of observers, identifiers, and supporters of the programme.

List of Natural History Books, Posters, and Pamphlets that would be given as awards

(Suggestions for regionally applicable books / pamphlets or photo brochures / posters are welcome and would be considered based on availability and pricing. )

Books

1. Invisible Empire: The Natural History of Viruses
2. Plants of Ladakh- A Photographic Guide
3. Fungus Among Us: An Exploration of Fungi in the Anamalai Hills
4. Explore Spiders of India: A Pocket Guide by Karthikeyan S.
5. Handbook for Nature Guides
6. Bharat ke Pakshi (Salim Ali) translated by Gayatri Ugra (Hindi) (BNHS)BNHS
7. Birds of Northern India, Author(s) Richard Grimmett and Tim Inskipp
8. Birds Of Southern India, Author(s) Richard Grimmett and Tim Inskipp
9. Butterflies and Moths of Pakke Tiger Reserve, Author(s) Sanjay Sondhi, Krishnamegh Kunte
10. Butterflies of the Garo Hills, Author(s) Sanjay Sondhi, Krishnamegh Kunte, et al
11. Butterflies of Uttarakhand, Author(s) Sanjay Sondhi, Krishnamegh Kunte
12. Indian Mammals, Author(s) Vivek Menon (2014)
13. Plants of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Himalaya, Author(s) Ishwari Datt Rai, Gajendra Singh, Gopal Singh Rawat
14. The Book of Indian Birds, Author(s) Salim Ali (BNHS)
15. Uttarakhand Nature Handbook - A guide for Naturalists, Eco-tourists and students. Ed. Sanjay Sondhi (Hindi and English Versions)
16. The Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians, JC Daniel (BNHS)

Photo Pamphlets / Checklists  / Other Creative Resources

1.  Butterflies of Gori Valley; Moths of Gori Valley. Uttarakhand. (Himal Prakriti) (Bilingual Hindi and English)
2.  Butterflies of Devalsari; Moths of Devalsari. Uttarakhand. (Titli Trust) (English)
3. Birds of the Gori Valley, Munsiari (Partly illustrated Checklist and Information Guide), (Himal Prakriti) Uttarakhand. (Bilingual Hindi & English)
4. Early Bird Flash Cards
5. Early Bird Pocket guides (Available for  - Peninsular India, Northeastern India, Spiti/Ladakh, Andaman&Nicobar Islands and Western Ghats) as well as bilingual pocket guides in Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Konkani or Hindi as appropriate (Birds of Karnataka, Birds of Kerala, Birds of Odisha, Birds of Tamil Nadu, Birds of Andhra Pradesh, Birds of Maharashtra, Birds of Goa, Birds of Madhya Pradesh, Birds of Uttarakhand and Birds of Rajasthan).
6. Snakes of Kumaon – Educational Playing Cards, Jignasu Dolia
7. SeasonWatch - Common trees pocket guide (NCF)

Posters

1. CEDAR – Poster on Himalayan Oak Forests (English or Hindi)

2. Birds of Munsiari, Uttarakhand, (Himal Prakriti) (Poster)
   .com)

For More Information about the programme

• For more information about the programme;
• or to volunteer;

• or to support the initiative
  write via email to - indiasnature.01@gmail.com or use the inaturalist messaging platform and send a message to @ram_k