Mike McGlathery
Hello everyone!
EwA is approaching 100,000 total iNaturalist observations among its biodiversity projects at an appropriate time of year, with the diversity of species to document increasing rapidly in the New England area. While our total number of observations decreased slightly this week, the number of distinct species we observed increased!
📸 First off this week, we have a beautiful picture of an American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) from Dan. This is only the second observation of an American oystercatcher in EwA’s iNat projects, and the other observation occurred pretty far away—in San Ignacio, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Daniel Onea · Boston, MA · Apr. 18, 2022)
The native flora of Massachusetts are currently showing the colors of their spring flowers, and Bill documented this beautiful eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) flower on Tuesday. These flowers will eventually produce seeds attached to a cottony substance that will help the seeds be distributed by wind.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill Macindewar · Medford, MA · Apr. 19, 2022)
During one of our vernal pool surveys, Joe documented this predaceous diving beetle larva (family Dytiscidae). These larvae are ambush predators, lying in wait to surprise passing prey, which can include animals larger than them such as small tadpoles.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Joe Macindewar ·Massachusetts · April 2022)
🥶 EwA’s Horn Pond citizen scientists braved a chilly wind to complete their fieldwork on Wednesday. Having experienced some warm spring days makes the colder ones feel a lot colder! Horn Pond’s field session was brisk in pace as well as temperature under a beautiful blue sky.
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 527 observations of 297 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here.
🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 99,191 observations of 7,719 distinct species! We are on track to hit 100,000 observations in the next couple weeks! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here.
📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events
Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Spring Program [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows.
EwA Fieldwork (and Resources)
Spring schedule: We are picking up the monitoring pace, and moving from a monthly to every other week monitoring at all sites. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅 to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location.
📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here
❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.
That’s it for this week—until next time!
-Mike
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