Hello everyone!
It’s the first EwA highlights of 2024 - let’s take a look back at the past year at some of our most-observed species. It was a great year for EwA on iNat, with over 39,000 observations of over 5,000 species. Next week, we’ll take a look back at another set of observations EwA is building in our various Anecdata projects.
📸 It’s probably pretty easy to guess what our most-observed species was this year - the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), with 465 observations! This makes a lot of sense—these insects are very common, and a lot of our projects focus on arthropods or arthropod plant relationships. Kristian observed this one back in late September.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© kdemary · Arlington, MA · Sep. 30, 2023)
EwA’s most frequently observed plant this past year was the striped wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata). This checks out as well; it’s present on the forest floor, a habitat EwA naturalists spend a lot of time observing during our programs, and it’s especially easy to notice in the winter. Past EwA intern Meghan observed this specimen last February.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© meghan1256 · Hopkinton, MA · Feb. 16, 2023)
The most common fungus to see in EwA’s iNat projects this past year was the orange jelly spot (Dacrymyces chrysospermus). This one is also common and quite conspicuous due to its color, and our naturalists have spotted it pretty much year-round. The observation below comes from Jennifer.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© jennifer_clifford · Madison County, VA · Oct. 22, 2023)
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 268 observations of 130 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 171,945 observations of 10,546 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 Winter [ 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
