We did it! And it is not over yet!

The number of observations this year has just surpassed the DOUBLE top number for any previous Personal Bioblitz, and the species numbers are also climbing in the direction of a double record.

But don't stop! We have TEN more days of observing (until May 15), and after that you get a week to sort your photos, upload the last straggling observations, get your ID's under control, and remove any that were accidentally added but are cultivated/captive organisms. Also please help with ID's on other people's observations. On May 23 at midnight the leadership team starts sorting the data and make the list of winners and numbers. But it is already clear that we are all winners this year - together we have already made this the biggest Personal Bioblitz ever. Keep it going for ten more days.

And if you still have your photos in your camera or smartphone, get them up on this project website now :)

Happy iNatting everyone!
Lena

Hi all bioblitzers –

So, the Personal Bioblitz 2021 is over, it ended at midnight on May 15 your local time. It is clear we have broken all records, but, the exact numbers are not yet certain.

You have until midnight on May 23 to curate your own observations in the project:

1. Add any of your observations seen during March 1-May 15 that not yet have been added.
2. Work on getting as many of your observations to genus or species level (or whatever is possible for the taxonomic group)
3. Make sure you don’t have any observations in the project that need to be removed (seen before March 1, 2021; seen after May 15, 2021; or are clearly cultivated or captive by humans)
4. All observations need to have a place and a date. (Photos are not mandatory, but recommended).
5. Help identify and confirm other bioblitzers’ identification.
   
6. Observations do not need to be identified to species level, we accept any level of identification (including ‘Life’ for things we are clueless about so far).

If you are in the leadership team, help by checking that we don’t have clearly cultivated or captive species. Anything that isn’t ID to species can stay of course. The leadership team (admins) have the right to remove any observations that are not added correctly to the project.

On May 23 at midnight the leadership team starts sorting the data and make the list of winners and numbers in various categories. We usually do the top five species, top five observers, and top five species observers. But it is already clear that we are all winners this year - together we have already made this the biggest Personal Bioblitz ever. The report will be put on the website and on the iNaturalist project page.

So, if you still have your photos in your camera or smartphone, get them up on this project website now :)

Fantastic work all of you!

Lena

Personal Bioblitz 2021 Results (1 March – 15 May, 2021)
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/personal-bioblitz-2021

Cumulative Community Totals:
• 68914 observations (New record!!!, previous record was set 2020 with 25584 observations, this is and increase with 269%! Amazing.
• 8844 species (New record!!! )
• 114 participants reported observations (153 signed up, not everyone reported – New record!!!)

Some fun facts:
• 21673 of observations (31.4%) were from New Jersey, USA, home state for the Personal Bioblitz, which is about the same amount as last year
• Plants rule! 38,382 observations (55.7%) were of plants. There are a lot of great botanists who participate each year, so not surprising.
• 2875(!) different people around the world helped identify the species that were reported to the project.

Most observations:

1. Sara Rall (srall) from New Jersey, USA, 10303 observations (New record!!!)
2. Susan Hewitt (susanhewitt) from New York, USA, 4528 observations
3. Nick Kleinschmidt (nick2524) from New Hampshire, USA, 4096 observations [started to use iNaturalist in 2019, special congratulations!)
4. Nick Lambert (nicklambert) from Australia, 3878 observations
5. Barbara L Wilson (sedgequeen) from Oregon, USA, 3732 observations

Most species:

1. Nick Lambert (nicklambert) from Australia, 1457 species (thanks for adding all kinds of species none of the rest of us could see! This is a new record!)
2. Annika Lindqvist (annikaml) living in Texas, USA, 1092 species (she broke her record from last year! Last year Annika was number one in this category, but had to see Australia’s Nick Lambert climb to first place this year.)
3. Barbara L Wilson (sedgequeen) from Oregon, USA, 969 species
4. Erik Danielsen (er1kksen) from New York State, USA, 968 species (just one species away from third place…)
5. Sarah Kelsey (botanylicious) from Georgia, USA, 961 species (so close to third and fourth place!)

Most observed species (heavily weighted to common species in Northeastern United States)

1. American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) 352 observations (seen by 34 observers]
2. American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 337 observations [47 observers]
3. Red Maple (Acer rubrum) 275 observations [33 observers]
4. Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) 261 observations [38 observers]
5. Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) 258 observations [42 observers]

Congratulations to all iNaturalist participants, and to the winning species! Thank you all! Special thanks to Hadas Parag who helped with the data cleanup at the end. See you next year for the 2022 Personal Bioblitz!

Lena Struwe and the Personal Bioblitz 2021 leadership team