📜 EwA Week Highlights: Migrations, and Lots of Beetles

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights May 11, 2024 Hello everyone! Thanks for reading the May 11th edition of the EwA highlights.  📸 We are right around the peak of many spring bird migrations, giving us the opportunity to observe a wide variety of birds passing up the east coast. One such bird that stands out from the crowd with its brilliant orange is the Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula), photographed here by Bill. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill MacIndewar · Medford, MA · May 9, 2024)  Beetles (order Coleoptera) are a breathtakingly diverse set of organisms, with over 400,000 species. There are about 40 species of beetle for every bird species on Earth. Sometimes this fact is felt in the identifying process of a beetle observation, such as with this weevil from the genus Polydrusus that Kat observed on Friday. How many species are in this genus? Over 200! EwA iNaturalist Record (© Kathleen R Shea · Winchester, MA · May 10, 2024)  EwA’s most-observed species this week was the eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americana), which is becoming quite large and active at this time of year. These ones were observed by Kristian at Whipple Hill. EwA iNaturalist Record (© kdemary · Lexington, MA · May 9, 2024)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 613 observations of 295 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 180,570 observations of 10,788 distinct species! 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 [ 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) It’s a great time to join our monitoring programs. 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 all for this week—hope you have a good one! -Mike