Sorry to keep you all in suspense. Wanted to give the experts a chance to identify observations before we tallied everything up. Well, there are definitely a core group of you who are TOP observers! There was lots of overlap, but I wanted spread the love as much as possible, so you are only eligible for one of the last challenge prizes.

Results:
Highest number of research grade observations: Aaron Goodwin (goody)
Most species: Bill Carrell (cordulegaster58obliqua)
Greatest diversity of taxa: Bill Adams (badams)
Last challenge of 3 newly observed species: Matt (teriyaki12), Lynn Michael (jlmichael), and jlzachary1

You can choose your prize from the following:
--Free BioBlitz! Oklahoma event registration (includes t-shirt)
--BioBlitz! kit (includes student quality insect net and aquatic net, dip net, live mammal trap, water bottle, sample vials, and some other misc fun stuff all in a bucket)
--Copy of an Oklahoma field guide or book (choose from: Herps, Bats, Butterflies, Trees, Tallgrass Wildflowers, or Landscaping for Wildlife)

I am excited with the biodiversity that you all have captured during our first Virtual Spring BioBlitz! I think it was a great success and look forward to other such online inventories of Oklahoma's species.

If you want to be considered for the 3rd Challenge (photographic observations of at least 3 species that had not been recorded at the time), please comment on this post below with the 3 observations listed.

I will be announcing the winners of the overall awards as soon as I calculate them.

Thanks to everyone who participated - observers and identifiers!

Priscilla Crawford
BioBlitz! Coordinator

You guys are doing a great job capturing our spring time biodiversity! 7 people completed the last challenge! This weekend marks the end of our Spring Virtual BioBlitz! So here is one last push to get some more observations.

Last Challenge - Make photographic observations of at least 3 species that have not yet been recorded in our BioBlitz! Species need to be identified and verifiable from image. Should not be domestic or horticultural species. Photographs must be your own. Observations must be made between 28 April 10:00 a.m. and 1 May 10:00 a.m.

At the end of our Virtual BioBlitz!, prizes will also go to the
--top observer of Research Grade observations
--observer of the most species (with your own photographs)
--observer of the most diversity of taxa (based on number of observations in each taxa group)

All observations must be uploaded no later Sunday May 1st 10:00 a.m.

Prizes are:
BioBlitz! kit (includes student quality insect net and aquatic net, dip net, live mammal trap, water bottle, sample vials, and some other misc fun stuff all in a bucket)
or
BioBlitz! Oklahoma registration for 2, including t-shirts

Everyone who posts a photographic observation from at least 7 of the commonly recognized BioBlitz! Oklahoma taxa groups (see list below) by April 13th will earn their choice of an Oklahoma field guide or book (Herps, Bats, Trees, Tallgrass Wildflowers, Landscaping for Wildlife).

Insects
Non-insect terrestrial inverts
Non-insect aquatic inverts
Fungi
Lichens
Algae (including Diatoms)
Plants
Herps
Birds
Fish
Mammals

We got over 300 observations in 3 days! Great job BioBlitzers! I declare two winners of our first challenge - most observations during our first weekend - Bill Carrell and Bill Adams! You two get free BioBlitz! Oklahoma registrations. I will post a new challenge in a few days. In the mean time, keep adding to the count and exploring our state!

Friday is the beginning of our Spring Virtual BioBlitz! While we have the whole month of April to record observations, I have posted a first weekend challenge -- The person to make the most observations on the first weekend - April 1-3 will earn a free BioBlitz! Oklahoma 2016 registration!

Join us in April to celebrate Oklahoma's spring biodiversity! This Virtual BioBlitz! will be open for the whole month to capture all your species observations from across the entire state.