Texas Mid-Coast Bioblitz's Journal

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that participated in this bioblitz! There were some incredible observations made, and I was really impressed with the turn-out! It was a true pleasure getting to meet some of the top naturalists in the Houston area and to learn about some of your experiences with nature. I learned so much about the wildlife in this region and had a blast doing it, so thank you all again for making this possible! Hope y'all had fun as well!

Looks like most observations have been uploaded at this time, so I will begin identifying plant species with the refuge botanist later today. He's been familiar with the plants on the Mid-Coast refuges for the last 20 years, so we are very thankful to have his guidance. Unfortunately, the refuge doesn't have an entomologist so I'm asking you guys to help one last time in identifying insects! :)

We had a large number of insect observations (41.6%), now let's try and get the correct identifications for all these species to boost our research-grade observations for the project. Only identify the species if you are comfortable doing so. It's okay if you don't know, there's bound to be someone who will.

----------------------------------------------Closing Thoughts--------------------------------------------------------

-We reached 1,500+ observations with 526 species (and still counting!), WOOOOW!

-Over 200 people contributed (including identifiers)

-We nearly doubled the observation count at San Bernard in a single weekend

-We added at least 200 new species to the San Bernard iNaturalist page

-Overall, bioblitz was a great success! Thank you all!

Hope to meet some of you again. Let me know if you hear of any other bioblitz coming up in the future, I'd love to help!

A personal goal that I have for this bioblitz is for all the observations to be research grade. Research grade observations can be used by scientists all around the world and must meet 5 requirements:

1. Evidence of what you saw
   This could be a picture or a recording of sound

2. What you saw
   Identify the Genus and Species name of the organism - if you are unsure, choose a group of organisms that your observation belongs to such as plants, birds, or dragonflies. It's okay not to know, that is what the community is here for!

3. Where you saw it
   Record the GPS coordinates of where you took the observation. If you have a smartphone, the iNaturalist app will do this automatically. If you are using a camera, you may need a GPS device. We will try to provide Garmin devices for those who need them.

4. When you saw it
   Take note of the time and date of your encounter, not the time and date of when you post it on iNaturalist. Once again, the iNaturalist app will do this automatically

5. Who saw it
   Be proud of your observation and put your name on it! Post your observation on your iNaturalist account to get the credit you deserve!

With these five components, you can make a difference by participating in communal citizen science! Easy enough!

There is one last thing to note. For the observation to be research grade, there must be a 2/3 consensus on the identification of the species. To help with this, I ask that everyone take a look at the observations we collect and see if you can identify the species found during this bioblitz. It'll be fun and I'm sure you'll see some really awesome pictures! Most of all, have fun with it and hopefully learn something new!

As you all know, COVID-19 is a real concern. We would love to have as many people as possible to attend this bioblitz, but we must be careful. Everyone's safety is paramount, and because of this, we will be practicing social distancing and require masks when interacting with others. If you are feeling ill or have come in contact with coronavirus, stay home!

Luckily a bioblitz is held outdoors and keeping a distance from others shouldn't be a problem! We just want to reassure everyone that we aren't taking COVID-19 lightly and that we would love to see you all there. As I mentioned in my other post, Hudson Woods will be the central location, but you are free to explore both San Bernard and Brazoria NWRs. Of course, we can't enforce you to wear a mask, nor do we expect you to when out collecting observations, but please... if you are interacting with others you don't know or you are meeting the ACE Crew Members at Hudson woods, wear a mask. We would hate for someone to become ill while participating in this event.

Thank you for your understanding.

The central location for the Texas Mid-Coast Bioblitz will be held at the Hudson Woods Unit of San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. The address can be found at the bottom of this page. There you will meet the American Conservation Experience (ACE) crew members who are hosting the bioblitz. We will be providing water, snacks, and other helpful information such as directions to different cool locations around the refuge. We would love to meet you all but it is not necessary to come to Hudson woods to participate in the bioblitz. If you post an observation within the San Bernard or Brazoria NWR boundaries, your observation will automatically be posted to the project as long as it is added to iNaturalist between August 7th-9th. ACE crew members will be present at Hudson woods between 7 am-12 pm on Friday (Aug. 7th) and Saturday (Aug. 8th). The project will continue on August 9th, but we will not be present at Hudson woods. Please join the project so that we can keep track of who is participating. Thanks!

Who?
ACE crew members and U.S. Fish and Wildlife

What?
iNaturalist bioblitz

When?
August 7th-9th; meeting at Hudson Woods August 7th-8th at 7 am-12 pm

Where?
Hudson Woods- Scoby Lake Rd, Angleton, TX 77515

Why?
Goal: To engage the community with nature while collecting scientifically valuable data

Hi and welcome to the Texas Mid-Coast Bioblitz!

For those of you who are using iNaturalist for the first time, I hope to make things as easy as possible for you! If you are reading this, you have taken the first step to becoming a natural scientist. While I cannot give you the educational credentials that a scientist may have, I can equip you with a tool that will help you with your scientific endeavors. By using iNaturalist, you are participating in citizen science!

How does iNaturalist work?

With iNaturalist, you can discover the identity of ANY organism. This tool is able to identify organisms by comparing an image taken from a smartphone or camera and applying an algorithm to help identify the species--but it doesn't end there. iNaturalist is the home to thousands of scientists who would love to see what you're discovering in nature. They help the community identify an organism when the algorithm is unsure of the true species identification. The key is to take multiple high-quality pictures from as many angles as possible. If you are able to capture different features of an organism, iNaturalist will do the rest!

This is a brief explanation of how iNaturalist works. There is plenty of other information to be found in the "help" and "getting started" guide found on the iNaturalist website. I will include links to other helpful information for those of you who are new or need a refresher on iNaturalist. If you already use iNaturalist, I thank you for participating in this project and I can't wait to see what you all find! Good luck!

Help

https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help

Getting Started

https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started

How to Post identifications on the Web (for those who are uploading pictures from a camera)

https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started#web

What is a Bioblitz?

https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/bioblitz+guide

If you need help or have any questions, feel free to contact me at keith.tittle@outlook.com