Αρχεία Ημερολογίου για Μάιος 2018

Μάιος 01, 2018

Phew, what a weekend -- what did & didn't we find?

The observation period for our City Nature Challenge is over! We have until the end of the day Thursday, May 3rd to upload and identify what we found. Know your stuff? Help us identify and verify with this link. As you identify, please also mark things as captive/cultivated when appropriate. Turn off "confirming identifications" in your account settings to reduce the barrage of notifications.

So, what did we find, or maybe more interestingly, what didn't we find that we would have expected to? Below are links to compare what has previously been found and documented on iNaturalist in the Chicago Wilderness Region in the months of March, April, and May compared to what we found during the CNC 2018. Did you see any of these creatures? Add them, even if you were unable to get a photo (honor system, folks!). These links and stats will be changing as folks finish adding their observations. I excluded captive observations for the purpose of these comparisons, since they're much less interesting. The compare tool limits us to check 500 taxa at a time, so these are broken into several groups.

Click the title (e.g. "Mammals") to view what we didn't find. Other links are included in-line for the things we found that were newly documented for our region on iNat. On the right side of the compare page, click the number (e.g. "1") under the column "CNC 2018" to view observations of the new documentations.


Mammals

How did we not find a skunk or a feral cat? :) No new mammals were documented during the CNC 2018 for the Chicago Wilderness Region, which is not an unexpected result of course.


Birds

Several things I saw photos of on Illinois Birding this weekend but didn't get posted to iNat. How about gray catbird, rose-breasted grosbeak, indigo bunting, scarlet tanager, common yellowthroat, bufflehead, etc! Once a few others get their observations posted I'm thinking this list is going to change a bit :) Here we go: one new bird was documented for the Chicago Wilderness region on iNat! A ruff (Calidris pugnax) was found in Indiana and observed by @mbeatty233.


Reptiles & Amphibians

Anyone find or hear an American toad, leopard frog, foxsnake, or chorus frogs? No new herps documented.


Ray-finned fishes

Did anyone go fishing? 2 new ray-finned fishes documented, including silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, talk about a mouthful) observed by @observer26.


Insects except the groups below

Lacewings, water striders, plant bugs? We did get one new species documented -- a common bed bug (Cimex lenticularis), not the most welcome observation of all...

Butterflies & moths
Several here y'all may have seen but didn't catch a photo of--American lady, eastern comma, mourning cloak. New leps (excluding superfamily Noctuoidea) included Lycia ursaria, observed by @bg1159 in Warrenville. No new Noctuoidea.

Dragonflies & damselflies
Also early for odes. Anyone see an eastern forktaill, common whitetail, or swamp darner? No new species documented.

Flies
Margined or eastern calligrapher? No new flies documented.

Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, sawflies)
Camponotus pennsylvanicus or carpenter bee? A couple new reports, but not so sure about their identifications--can someone QC these?

Beetles
An absence of six-spotted tiger beetles and spotted ladybeetles! At least one new species for our region on iNat--a Carabus ground beetle at Columbus Park Bioblitz observed by @ericgyllenhaal and @joelblecha.


Arachnids

No zebra or bold jumpers? Anyone find dog ticks yet? We found a couple new things including an openfield orbweaver (Araneus pratensis) found by @randomrover88 at Midewin.


All other animals

A couple new things here, including a species of Daphnia captured by @rakesh2.


Fungi including lichens

Morels, witches butter, jelly ears (I'm hungry now). It's a bit early for mayapple rust, but did anyone find mayapples with orange speckles on their leaves? We apparently found a bunch of new fungi species for our area now that knowledgeable folks are out looking! I suspect several others will need corrective IDs due to Computer Vision suggestions.


▶Plants

Lots of plants. Split into several groups.

Non-flowering plants
Looks like no one added plant observations from Illinois Beach State Park yet--no Juniperus horizontalis. I bet @ewarden saw some Fissidens and Physcomitrium, no? A few new documentations since @rakesh2 had a microscope to look for small stuff and @aaroncarlson was able to capture our more northern flora.

Monocots
It's pretty early for several of the species here, but I'll bet someone found Convallaria majalis at least. A few new genera/species documented, some of which need some quality control.

Plants in Asterales (sunflower family and friends)
Nothing new documented yet, not too unexpected given the timing of the CNC.

Plants in Fabales (pea family and friends)
Anyone see Baptisia alba, Medicago lupulina, Astragalus canadensis, or other weenie early leaves? Nothing new documented.

Plants in Lamiales (mint family and friends)
A few new things which may need some QC.

Plants in Rosales (rose family and friends)
Pretty sure most of these Fragaria vesca observations from before the CNC are misidentified due to common name issues; anyone document downy hawthorn, black chokeberry, spring avens, glossy buckthorn(?? how'd that go missed). Several new species documented, several of which probably need QC.

Plants in Brassicales (mustard family and friends)
What, no dame's rocket? A couple new documentations, maybe needs some QC.

Plants in Ranunculales (buttercup family and friends
Where's our Anemone canadensis, Ranunculus sceleratus, Eranthis hyemalis, Thalictrums, Chelidonium majus at? Some new spp. may need some QC.

Plants in Caryophyllales (pink family and friends)
The Opuntia in our region have mostly been reclassified as O. cespitosa, so this is a taxonomic issue (we did find prickly pear in several locations!). A few others should be IDable based on vegetative photos--Silene latifolia, Rumex acetosella, Moehringia. Some questionable new stuff.

All other dicots except the groups above
A bit early for most of these too, e.g. phlox, violets, puccoons, but some should be IDable if you have vegetative photos for sure. Newly documented in our area on iNat were the American fly-honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis), cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), and a bunch of stuff that need to be looked at carefully to vet the IDs.

Other Life

Viruses, bacteria, archaea, chromista, slime molds, and other small things. We didn't find any dog vomit slime mold, but we did find several new taxa for our area on iNat.



phew.


Again, help identify and verify observations with this link:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=needs_id&project_id=city-nature-challenge-2018-chicago-wilderness-region&verifiable=any

You can turn on research grade in the filters if you want to vet for trigger-happy agreeing or help verify captive/cultivated organisms with this link.
Posted on Μάιος 01, 2018 0339 ΜΜ by bouteloua bouteloua | 8σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 03, 2018

Help identify CNC Observations

We are doing really great -- about 56% of our observations are research grade already, holy cow. About 36% are still "needs ID," so please head over to Identify and help out if you've got a few moments to spare today.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=city-nature-challenge-2018-chicago-wilderness-region

Check our previous post to see what species we missed seeing--did you find any of these but didn't grab a photo? Add 'em! Know a birder who found these during the CNC timeframe but they're not on iNaturalist yet? Let them know! Hoping we can get over 1000 taxa documented and we are soooo close.

Results from the City Nature Challenge will be announced tomorrow morning, May 4th, 11 AM central time.

Posted on Μάιος 03, 2018 0151 ΜΜ by bouteloua bouteloua | 1 σχόλιο | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 04, 2018

Results

The identification period for the purposes of the City Nature Challenge is over, but the data live on iNaturalist forever, so keep on identifying anyways! ;)

In the Chicago Wilderness Region, we had:


6,870 observations


1,017 taxa (921 at species or below)


353 observers


256 identifiers


Of our observations, 58% reached research grade, 34% still need identification, and 9% either didn't have photos/audio or were captive/cultivated organisms (or something else made them casual grade). Over 64% of the species were plants (69% of observations) with birds following up at 13% of the species (15% of observations). The most observed species were all charismatic native woodland spring flora: mayapple, bloodroot, white troutlily, spring beauties, and bluebells.

According to the international leaderboard, the categories for most observations, species, and observers went to the San Francisco Bay Area, with 41,700 observations of almost 2,950 taxa observed by over 1,500 people. Ow ow! Fantastic numbers.

Also check out this amazing hockey stick graph of global mean temperature number of observations per week on iNaturalist since 2008. As a whole the iNaturalist community made almost half a million observations of over 22,000 taxa during the CNC timeframe. Really amazing.

Posted on Μάιος 04, 2018 0302 ΜΜ by bouteloua bouteloua | 2σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 07, 2018

Survey + CNC 2019?

Survey

If you participated in the City Nature Challenge 2018, whether you made 1 observation or 100, please fill out this short survey. All input is important and appreciated! The international organizers will be evaluating the results. See here: https://goo.gl/Ujg4sv

CNC 2019?

If you or your organization wants to take the reins for the CNC in the Chicago Wilderness region in 2019, please shoot a message to me at cassisaari@gmail.com.

You can also sign up to get information from the international organizers for 2019 by providing an email address here.

Posted on Μάιος 07, 2018 0140 ΜΜ by bouteloua bouteloua | 0σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 14, 2018

Descend & Botanize? + INPS 2018 Annual Gathering

Is anyone interested in botanizing some locale in northeast Illinois sometime in the next couple weekends? Suggest a location in a comment and vote on a date here. Results are in and:

Monday, May 28th at 9AM
Illinois Beach State Park, Nature Center parking lot
Google Maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/8Mw9h1TDaX62
Puccoons & lupines!
Chiwaukee afterwards yeah?

Also the Illinois Native Plant Society's 2018 Annual Gathering is in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana this year. This year it is June 8th - 10th. Registration is open! Read more here: https://ill-inps.org/2018-annual-gathering/

A reminder that anyone should feel free to use this project page to create "journal posts" / "news items" to discuss the Illinois Botanists Big Year project or any relevant Illinois botany items! We also have a Facebook group, but of course not everyone uses Facebook.

Posted on Μάιος 14, 2018 0321 ΠΜ by bouteloua bouteloua | 14σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 24, 2018

Illinois Native Plant Society 2018 Annual Gathering

June 8-10, 2018, at Governors State University, University Park, IL

An examination of the plants and ecosystems of the southern section of the Morainal and Lake Plain Natural Divisions of Illinois and Indiana

This year’s annual INPS gathering will be hosted by the Kankakee-Torrent Chapter of the Illinois Native Plant Society in University Park, Illinois with numerous field trips to locations in Illinois and Indiana. Governors State University is about a 45 minute drive from Chicago; many of the field trips are within that driving distance too.

Registration Deadline – June 1, 2018
More information & register: https://ill-inps.org/2018-annual-gathering/

Field trip options include:
Sand Ridge Nature Preserve
Powderhorn Marsh & Prairie
Indian Boundary Prairies
Clark & Pine
Ivanhoe North
McMahon Woods & Fen
Cranberry Slough
Miller Woods
Cowles Bog
Chicago Ridge Prairie
Sculpture Park
Hickory Creek
Goodenow Grove

Also:
Friday social, Saturday membership meeting, banquet, silent auction
Presentation by Gerould Wilhelm
Sedge workshop with Paul Marcum
Native woody plant nursery tour at Possibility Place
Limestone Park Bioblitz

More info on hotel and camping options, nearby amenities, and t-shirts, and registration on the INPS website: https://ill-inps.org/2018-annual-gathering/

I'm planning on going to Clark & Pine, Ivanhoe North, and of course the bioblitz at Limestone Park. :)

See you there!

Posted on Μάιος 24, 2018 0141 ΜΜ by bouteloua bouteloua | 2σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο