Socially Distant Bioblitz (6/14/2020)'s Journal

It is hard to believe, but our 10th and final Socially Distant Bioblitz is this Sunday, 18 October 2020! With only one event left, we are just 7,000 observations shy of reaching our goal of 100,000 observations. To help us achieve this, we encourage everyone to recruit 2 people to participate in Sunday’s bioblitz. Extra credit if they are new to iNaturalist!

Within the 93,008 observations collected so far from 73 countries, we’ve found some beautiful plants and charismatic animals, both common and globally rare species, and even a few new species records for iNaturalist! 13,528 species in all! It may be a challenge, but can we find 472 additional species on Sunday to reach an even 14,000?

We hope to "see" you there!

Mark your calendars! Due to requests for more Socially Distant Bioblitz events, three more events have been added (every 3 weeks on Sunday) to the Socially Distant Bioblitz Series:

26 July 2020
16 August 2020
6 September 2020

While many countries are transitioning from quarantine to modified normalcy, others are still struggling with outbreaks of Covid-19. Regardless of your region’s social distancing policies (if any are in place), all are welcome to contribute observations to these projects. Click on the links above to join a project, and all your observations on the project day(s) will be automatically added.

Looking forward to exploring more of Earth’s biodiversity with you!

It is amazing to think 75 days have passed since the first Socially Distant Bioblitz (SDB) on 5 April. Over this time, our community SDB effort has reached thousands of naturalists from over 60 countries. Together, we have contributed 56,572 observations, containing 10,011 species , to iNaturalist. Our fifth SDB event on 5 July will continue to connect citizen-scientists around the world as we Covid-19 pandemic uniquely impacts each of us.

Okay, time for the recap of SDB #4! 70 observers submitted an even 9,250 observations from 5 continents and 17 countries, which yielded 3,075 species. Not too far behind the SDB #3 totals despite having fewer than half as many observers. Congratulations to @alexis_orion in Germany for finding the most species during the bioblitz and setting an SDB record for most species in a single bioblitz (477)! Runner-up mentions go out to @nicklambert in Australia (324 species) and @bonnieeamick in the United States (317 species).

Our collective “day” started soon after midnight at 12:22 AM local time near Canungra, Australia, where @dustaway documented this uncommon Oxycanus beltista moth. Nearly 40 hours later (39 hours and 59 minutes), the bioblitzed ended when @masonmaron recorded an aphid near Renton, Washington (USA) at 11:21 PM local time. Check out these other highlights, picked at random, from the bioblitz:

An odd-looking Lixus iridis weevil from Russia (@melodi_96)

A colorful Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), also from Russia (@oleg_kosterin)

This colorful Viper’s-Bugloss (Echium vulgare) from Czechia (@helik7)

A wetland-loving Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) from Brazil (@nelson_wisnik)

A phenotypically uncommon all-white Rock Pigeon (Columbia livia), also from Brazil (@charlesavenengo)

A particularly photogenic Garnot’s House Gecko (Hemidactylus garnotii) from Cambodia (@geechartier)

We hope you can join us for the next bioblitz on 5 July, and please encourage others to participate as well!

Warm regards,

Steven Lamonde (@slamonde ), Sara Lobdell (@slob973 ) & Michael Nerrie (@mnerrie )
List of participating countries (17): Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Fiji, Germany, Guatemala, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Peru, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States.

It is now 2 hours past midnight on 15 June in the central Pacific, and the Socially Distant Bioblitz (SDB) #4 has come to a close around the globe. If you still have observations to submit, try to get most of these submitted by Friday so they can be included in the event summary. While this summary will be posted on Friday, any observations from 14 June submitted after Friday will still contribute to the project.

While turnout for this event was relatively low (currently 58 observers), this fourth SDB added enough observations to bring our SDB Series tally to over 50,000 observations. Shout out to @paulabetz in Missouri, USA for making our 50,000th observation! We also reached 700 different observers between all 4 events. Great work, everyone :)

Depending on where you live, 14 June may have already ended or there are still a few hours left. For those of you east of the Atlantic Ocean, it's time to upload remaining observations and help others with their identifications. For those of you still awake before midnight, turn on the outside lights to see what nocturnal insects fly your way!

Here is a list of moth species (and butterflies) we have found so far. Enjoy!

We have now found and submitted over 1,000 species to iNaturalist as part of today's bioblitz! Nearly 20 countries are represented, spanning the globe from Canada to Fiji and from Russia to Peru.

Recently submitted observations include this introduced Japanese Zelkova found by @ivanort , a jumping spider in the subfamily Salticinae (@awsalas ), this cute Eastern Cottontail (@chrisnerrie ), and this beautiful North American Luna Moth (@sophie342 ).

Keep those observations coming!

Congratulations, team, on reaching the 1,000 observations mark! Our top observers so far are @nicklambert (247 obs; Australia), @amzamz (227 obs; Germany), and @naufalurfi (128 obs; Indonesia).

So far, 14 observers have submitted over 650 observations from 11 countries. Over 400 of Earth's species are represented in this small sample, which will increase rapidly throughout the day. Taking a break from observing today? Connect with others around the world by sending an iNaturalist message inviting them to add their observations to the bioblitz!

In Fiji, where midnight and the end of their bioblitz period is just 30 minutes away, @birdexplorers found a variety of marine creatures. Recently submitted observations of theirs include a Peppered Moray, Richardson's Moray, Threespot Wrasse, and Pacific Land Crab. Many of us in land-locked locations will not be finding these, or any other marine species today!

Thanks to @nicklambert , our 4th Socially Distant Bioblitz has now begun! Our first observation? A slug from the genus Ambigolimax, found in Toormina, Australia (about 350km south of Brisbane).

Looking forward to a great day with you all!

When adding an identification (ID) to an observation you made, you may wonder if it is better to use a general ID ("e.g., plant", "insect") or an ID that iNaturalist suggests. While a general ID is often vague, the specific ID can often be wrong. So which is better?

iNaturalist users have varying opinions on how to ID something when you don't know what it is, yet here are a few common guidelines:

ID guesses at the species level tend to get identified more quickly. So if you are active on iNat and willing to withdraw an ID if it is wrong, feel free to make specific guesses. This often encourages discussion and sharing of knowledge.

If you are not very active on iNat, or don't like to be wrong, ID an organism to the best level that you are confident - even if this best you can do is "plant" or even "Life", both of which are better than "Unknown".

For IDs that you are unsure of, it can be good practice to comment on your degree of confidence in the "Notes" section of an observation. For example, writing "This looks right, but I am not sure" can let other identifiers know that you are not 100% confident.

Happy observing!