Announcing a new iNat project with focus on ticks found in the Maritimes

During the spring of 2018 we were really starting to enjoy exploring Nova Scotia and we spent many hours out and about recording observations and uploading our photos to iNaturalist. As the weather started getting warmer the frequency that we brought a tick home with us increased. By June I simply wanted to stay indoors and never leave my urban home. I was terrified of ticks. I knew nothing about ticks. I had no idea what an engorged tick might look like nor what to do should I find one.

Historically ticks were only an issue in Nova Scotia should one decide to go camping at Keji during the months of May or June. During those years we simply switched our exploring to coastal areas.

It seems as if it is now semi-impossible to avoid ticks so what if we try a different tact? What if we actually try and find ticks and take photos of them? Maybe then they will become elusive and hard to find – just like snow buntings or the black-headed vulture…

The creation of our iNat ‘tick’ project won’t initially highlight species distribution in our province as few people are currently reporting encounters. We need to spread the word and encourage people to share photos.

Let’s assume that anyone who goes out exploring in our province will at some point come across a tick. Through journal posts on this project we plan to provide information on not just how to share photos with iNat but also how to annotate/describe observations.

We encourage iNatters (new or old) to provide feedback in the form of comments to the series of journal posts or drop us a note at cnc2019hrm@gmail.com

Stay safe and remember when you get home to check all nooks and crannies for potential iNat observations!

Posted on January 21, 2021 06:31 PM by mkkennedy