Carl Schurz Park Biodiversity Project's Journal

July 11, 2019

Carl Schurz Park, July is summer, Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp

We are really looking forward to the possibility of a soaking rain, as we have had a drought for the last couple of weeks, with hot temperatures and strong winds adding to the drying effect.

Nonetheless, all the flying insects of summer are hatching out, and dazzling us with their beauty and pollinating abilities. There are numerous different species of bees, from extremely tiny to quite big bumble bees, and several large spectacular wasps too. The solitary wasps, like the magnificent Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp, hardly ever sting, and don't represent a threat to humans, despite their awe-inspiring appearance.

Posted on July 11, 2019 12:06 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 9, 2019

And now, forward... De Kay's Brownsnake

Several people got into the swing of using iNaturalist over the last few weeks within our beautiful park as it moves into full spring/late spring. The park looks absolutely gorgeous... and that is because it is absolutely gorgeous!

I hope everyone is enjoying using iNaturalist (iNat). If you have any questions, always feel free to ask me. On any observation page you can just write in a comment @susanhewitt, and I should automatically be notified. Or, if you know my regular email address, please go ahead and email me.

In recent weeks in our lovely park, there were two early morning sightings of an extremely small, mild, well-behaved and totally harmless native species, DeKay's Brownsnake. The entire park staff should be proud to know that Carl Schurz Park serves as home to this species, because it is an indicator of really excellent habitat quality! Very few Manhattan parks have this species; it has not been recorded so far in Central Park. This cute little reptile eats slugs and snails, and therefore is the gardener's friend.

Here is a picture of a nice one from Illinois:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3484522

Posted on May 9, 2019 08:23 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 0 comments | Leave a comment

City Nature challenge 2019, thanks everyone!

Thank you to everyone who made observations during the City Nature Challenge. New York City did very well, coming in 12th in the world. That is remarkable considering we were the highest-ranked city to be this far north, and therefore still very much in spring.

We also had the hardest-working observers, who averaged the most number of observations per person of any city in the top 12.

We made nearly 4000 more observations than we did during last years event, even though we actually had fewer observers than last year.

We found 146 species that had never previously been recorded anywhere on iNaturalist.

For the 14 cities that are in our size category, we were #1 in terms of number of observations and number of species, ahead of Bristol and Bath City Region, Liverpool City region, Calgary and Barcelona.

So thanks again to everyone!

Posted on May 9, 2019 08:01 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 1, 2019

City Nature Challenge 2019 -- the days for identification

The four days of the observation part of the City Nature Challenge 2019 are over. Now we are working on trying to identify as much as we can.

There are always more people who make observations than there are people doing identifications, but we will see how much we can get done in one week.

Posted on May 1, 2019 07:33 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 27, 2019

City Nature Challenge 2019, a nice day

Today is Saturday, and it is mostly sunny, if a bit cool. Wrap up a little, and please get out there with your cell phone. Open up the iNaturalist app, and make as many photo observations as you can in our beautiful park, at its spring best right now.

Every observation you make through iNaturalist today, tomorrow, and Monday, will count towards the overall total for New York City in this global nature event.

Thanks everyone.

Posted on April 27, 2019 12:26 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 21, 2019

City Nature Challenge 2019, Carl Schurz Park

If anyone is interested in recording organisms (plants, insects, birds, fungi, etc) in Carl Schurz Park during the four days of the worldwide iNaturalist "City Nature Challenge 2019", Friday April 26th through Monday 29th, I am running two events that I am hoping some people will attend. One is on Friday morning and one on Monday morning -- both are 9 am to 12 noon, meeting at East End Ave and 86th Street, and fanning out from there.

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know by typing @susanhewitt anywhere on iNaturalist. Of course you don't need to be at an "event" in order to make observations -- feel free to go there yourself anytime, and record anything you like for iNaturalist.

Any observation that you make in NYC during those four days will help increase NYC's overall total, and will hopefully propel the city into the top five of cities worldwide.

:)

Posted on April 21, 2019 01:30 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 6 comments | Leave a comment

March 4, 2019

Carl Schurz Park Biodiversity Project

The Carl Schurz Park Biodiversity Project already has more than a thousand observations, of over 250 species. The list for the park now includes birds, lichens, ferns and mosses, butterflies and moths, fungi, garden plants, spontaneous plants, and a wide variety of other organisms. Spring will be starting soon, and as the weather warms up, the visible biodiversity within our beautiful park will increase rapidly. We look forward to many more observations of every kind of organism. Thank you for your help.

Posted on March 4, 2019 02:27 PM by susanhewitt susanhewitt | 1 comment | Leave a comment

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