National Geographic says “a BioBlitz is an opportunity to take a snapshot of the biodiversity in a specific place. In a BioBlitz event, students, scientists, naturalists, and community members join together to find and identify as many plants, animals, and other organisms as possible in a short period of time.”
Here is the video presentation by Mandy Hobkirk, from the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve, and Carrie-Lyn Robinson, in preparation for our YES BioBlitz.
So if you live or are visiting anywhere on the map below, including Ladysmith, Yellow Point, Cassidy, South Wellington and Cedar, or you’d like to visit one of our beautiful parks that weekend, we invite you to join our BioBlitz.
Step 1: Download the iNaturalist app on your phone. See www.inaturalist.ca.
Step 2: Start practising. Find any plant, flower or wandering frog. You can take a photo using the app, or record a sound. You can also take a photo using your phone’s regular camera, and select it for identification in iNaturalist by clicking ‘Add’. Don’t forget the world of lichens and fungi – click here for some amazing examples from Greg Roberts in the Holland Creek Watershed, Ladysmith.
Step 3: What did you see? The app will suggest its likely name, based on four million observations by Canadian naturalists.
Step 4: Click SHARE, and fellow naturalists will ensure that it has the correct identification.
Step 5: Click ‘More’, then ‘Projects’, then ‘Search’, enter YESBioBlitz, then click ‘Join’.
Some great resources:
Getting Started with the iNaturalist App
Video Tutorial – How to Use iNaturalist App
Guide to BioBlitz for After-School Programs
Yellow Point Ecological Society 