Mark those calendars! Here are a few events going on in DFW:

September 4 -- black-lighting event at Bob Jones Nature Center in Southlake
September 5 - 11 -- DFW-wide socially distant bioblitz! Competition just like last years.

October 1 - 3 -- east TX gathering at Gus Engeling, Richland Creek, and Neches River
October 21 -- black-lighting at LLELA

If you know of others that need to be added to the list, let me know! :)

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/lepidopt/Moths.htm

Calling all Utah spider observers! 2021 Spider Fest is this week, and we need your help looking for spiders in Utah! We're aiming to boost spider biodiversity records in the state and share the UT spider love virtually, all in celebration of Antelope Island State Park's annual Spider Festival. Any observations you make of spiders this week in Utah (through Sunday, August 8th) will automatically count towards the 2021 spider bioblitz. Last year's bioblitz identified over 40 species in 16 UT counties, including some first records on iNaturalist for UT...what will you find this year? We're excited to find out!

*More on the 2021 Spider Fest Bioblitz project
*NHMU's spider photography tips for iNaturalist
*Antelope Island Spider Festival

-The Natural History Museum of Utah Citizen Science team

@tigerbb @danielmenlove @jennifermenlove @elleneiriksson @nicole1158 @littlenutmeg @hmcentire @bjnicholls @maticus @chad_w @aroe @sarah1990 @cody49 @zookanthos @tobiashays @lbdennis @b_dennis @thecrazycolt1 @sabrina33 @wecho @kmosbruger @zeg02 @ethangallup @amandaaamodt @andrew929 @trisha47 @chandler13 @bioinformatic @nattlesbtw @natureissupercool @jessica1275 @ruth187 @wasatch_hunter @camsha315 @alexanimalphotos @cbills @connie43 @lcthompson @stefmonkey @once_casadastraphobic_bird @tsirtalis @marysmilodon @jill_dehaan @hannawacker @krechols13 @dprasad @jacklasley @chrisjensen1 @thecrazycolt1 @kcrstutz @madsess @finnegan-thenaturalist

Птицы, которые попались только одному наблюдателю по стране (с исследовательским статусом):

@solisia
Белокрылая Цапля
Береговой Конёк
Индийская Кукушка
Сахалинская Пеночка
Японская Желтоспинная Мухоловка

@birdchuvashia
Кольчатый Нырок
Конюга-Крошка
Перепончатопалый Галстучник
Тиссовая Синица

@alekseyfaraway
Дронго Чёрный
Охотский Улит
Рыбный Филин

@olga2019kuryakova
Американская Бурокрылая Ржанка
Ржавчатый Малый Трупиал
Странствующий Дрозд

@ekaterina_khudyakova
Бурунный Кулик
Желтоногий Улит

@idbirds
Короткоклювый Пыжик
Лопатень

@nestboxer
Каспийский Зуёк
Скальная Овсянка

@alexeiebel
Туркестанский Жулан

@anatolykotlov
Азиатский Бекасовидный Веретеник

@andreenkov
Орлан-Долгохвост

@andrewbazdyrev
Японская Белоглазка

@annie_wild
Восточная Тиркушка

@denis_ivanov
Бледный Стриж

@egorbirder
Lanius tigrinus

@grihahasanov
Черноголовый Ремез

@igor-dvurekov
Японский Зеленый Голубь

@marina_far_east
Восточный Пастушок

@melodi_96
Larus argentatus × cachinnans

@rovzap
Реликтовая Чайка

@taimyr
Гусь Росса

@vist
Малая Конюга

@vladimir-2685
Кумай

@vladimirarkhipov
Хохлатый Орёл

Спасибо за скрипт Константину @kildor

Welcome back to the Humber Arboretum Atlas Project monthly highlights! There were so many interesting observations that were made in July.

A lot of animals were spotted this month. Treshaun Thomas Wright spotted an Eastern Cottontail and a White-tailed Deer. One of our nature interpreters, Mike Naumoff, spotted a Wild Turkey.

© Mike Naumoff, some rights reserved (BY-CC), Wild Turkey - Observation 88017055

Plants and animals that have habitats in or by the water was a big theme in July. A Great Blue Heron was spotted by robertopennino and the Sacred Lotus was spotted by navpreetsekhon. Other observations included the Fatmucket and the Bluntnsed Minnow.

© navpreetsekhon, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC), Sacred Lotus - Observation 85857512

Some fruits were also spotted, such as the Mock Strawberry found by Max Haber. Lynn Short found the Autumn Olive and navpreetsekhon found the European Raspberry.

© Lynn Short, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC), Autumn Olive - Observation 87150314

© navpreetsekhon, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC), European Raspberry - Observation 87909625

The Humber Arboretum thanks everyone for submitting their findings this month. Every time a new picture gets posted, the beauty of the Arboretum gets captured and put on display for people to see. Looking forward to all the things that get observed in August!

• Nicole Carbone, Humber Arboretum Student Content Creator

Today, I went in my back garden to look for things to photograph. I came across a couple of things. There were these yellow flowering plants that looked like pansies. I also found clusters of plants that looked a bit like daisies in one of our flower beds. If you can, please let me know what the species is for both of them!
-Hanna K

Today, I went in my back garden to look for things to photograph. I came across a couple of things. There were these yellow flowering plants that looked like pansies. I also found clusters of plants that looked a bit like daisies in one of our flower beds. If you can, please let me know what the species is for both of them!
-Hanna K

https://sites.google.com/view/flyguide

Who else will formally update their "Favorite Maryland cockroach species" as they view this new species for Maryland Biodiversity Project?

Katja Schulz expertly documented our first record of Pale-bordered Field Cockroach (Pseudomops septentrionalis) at MBP. It is a native species that appears to reach the northern end of its range in our area.

Photo courtesy of (c) Katja Schulz, some rights reserved (CC BY). More at Maryland Biodiversity Project:
https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/view/21834

Bill

Hello and welcome to the Inclusive Ecology Section's 2021 International Biodiversity Championship Team!

Just a remind that you have until Thursday August 5 to post as many research grade or needs identification observations to our team's iNaturalist project page as possible. Your observation needs a photo or sound bite to be categorized as research grade (has correct identification) or needs ID.

Let me know if you have any questions - allyson.salisbury@gmail.com.

Happy observing!

Best,
Allyson

Since a lot of my interest in biology is geography related, I have a goal I have been working on for a while in Oregon:

By the end of the year, I want to be in the top 10 of the leaderboards for 10 Oregon (*or, conditions permitting, Southwest Washington) counties. I know this is an arbitrary goal, since it is not like visiting a single corner of some county and photographing all the daisies in some city park is really going to wildly expand my biogeographical horizons. But, as with so many other things, it is a process related thing. It makes me think of going places I would not otherwise go.

Currently I am on the top 10 all-time leaderboards for Benton (#2), Linn (#3), Polk (#6) and Lincoln (#9) counties. I am about 100 observations out of place for Marion County. After that, I admit it gets pretty far-fetched for the time remaining in the year: the Portland area (Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington) would take several hundred observations for me to get in the top 10. Lane would require several hundred more, as well.

And obviously, as wildfire season and Covid-19 Delta variant become greater threats, I am not going to endanger myself and others chasing something like that...but I still do feel it is good to have goals driving me on.

因為發現有蜂友會把同一時間、地點跟同一種蜂的圖片分開成幾次各別上傳，不但沒有增加實際資料紀錄的筆數，反而多花了時間做白工。建議同一觀察事件可以把圖片放在同一筆紀錄中，如果第一次上傳只能選一張圖的話，可以在儲存觀察紀錄後，利用編輯功能加入其他圖片。，

A field was implemented to indicate what kind of mutation the observed specimens exhibit
I put the "most common" but more could be added over time
This in order to understand even better how this class of mutations occur and what incidence each one of them has.

I previously separated these two species by the amount of red on the hind femur, but photos of mating pairs suggest this isn't a reliable distinction. The following linked mating pairs appear to represent the below species:

X. tenthredinoides
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/85560188
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1617071/bgimage

X. simillima
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48384345
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/80618876
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81167694
https://bugguide.net/node/view/57358/bgimage
https://bugguide.net/node/view/404652/bgimage
https://bugguide.net/node/view/875104/bgimage
https://bugguide.net/node/view/57359/bgimage
https://bugguide.net/node/view/406169/bgimage

Based on these observations and consulting Webb 1984, I propose the following differential diagnosis for the two species:

Hello Neighborhood Naturalists,
This month we are looking for and learning all about lovebirds! Join us for EcoQuestions and a walk around Steele Indian School Park. We are also hosting another Flora Finder training. Reserve your spot early, the class is limited to 15 people and last month was fully booked!

AUGUST EVENTS

LOVEBIRD WALK
Wednesday, August 11 | 6:30 p.m.
Let's look for lovebirds! We will be walking the Circle of Life path at Steele Indian School Park while using iNaturalist to make observations. If you haven't used iNaturalist before, don't worry! We will walk you through it. The August EcoQuest is all about lovebirds, and we hope to learn more about these colorful feathered characters.
Register Here

ECOQUESTIONS with GREG CLARK
Wednesday, August 25 | 3-4 p.m. MST
In this EcoQuestions session, we hear from Greg Clark, the Burrowing Owl habitat coordinator for Wild At Heart. His conservation work has focused on bird surveys, sound recording, photography, and active translocation of displaced Burrowing Owls to artificial habitat. Greg has compiled and mapped rosy-faced lovebird locality and population information in the metro Phoenix area since 1999. His website provided foundational support for studying their status and allowed others to collectively share information about them. Thanks to Greg, we have a great record of lovebird images, sounds and information spanning the past two decades.
Join us to hear all about lovebirds from Greg!
Register Here

FLORA FINDER TRAINING
Monday, August 30 | 3 p.m. MST
Want to learn how to use a free online tool that professional botanists and researchers use to share and access information about plants across Arizona? Join us for Flora Finder trainings where we will explore the basics of SEINet. Take a look at local floras and pressed plants, test your identification skills and discover where species have been recorded through time. We're looking for people to help make new iNaturalist observations for plants on SEINet, using what they learn in these trainings to add valuable biodiversity data for our area. Could you be the first person to observe a species in metro Phoenix on iNaturalist? Join us in this biodiversity scavenger hunt and become a Flora Finder.
Register Here

This is the third in what is an ongoing monthly (or almost monthly) series highlighting the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist.

“I love the enormous variety of shapes and the beauty of nature and have been fascinated by it all my life,” Kai-Philipp Schablewski (@kai_schablewski) tells me. Currently living in Marburg, Kai was born in the German city of Siegen and says “In my childhood [See Kai at age 11 below] I spent a lot of time in nature, was allowed to help design my parents' garden and owned several aquariums where I kept and bred plant, shrimp and fish species.” He  has also studied botany and has a real passion for plants.

Biodiversity is the Earth's greatest treasure that reflects the history of life on Earth but also stands for the future of life on Earth. Plants form the basis of most of the Earth's ecosystems.

The greater the diversity of plants, the more other species an ecosystem can usually accommodate.

There are around 320,000 different plant species, unfortunately we often only get to know a tiny fraction of them in the course of our lives.

He also notes, of course, that biodiversity is not evenly distributed. Germany averages, he says, about 500 different species of vascular plants per 10,000 km², while

the greatest number of different plant species and the greatest general diversity can be found in South America. Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela are among the 10 most biodiverse countries in the world, and Bolivia [is almost in the top ten]. Since I also find the landscapes and nature there incredibly beautiful, it is easy to see why I am particularly interested in the flora of this continent.

Unfortunately, I have never been to South America so far, but I love to imagine nature there and how it might be to find these plants there.

For years, then, Kai has been using platforms like Flickr and iNat to virtually explore the flora and fauna of South America and other biodiverse regions, and on iNat he’s made over 120,000 identifications (he’s the top iNat identifier of plants in South America) as well as adding and curating thousands of taxa. 

[When I became a curator in 2018,] the distribution of observations was even more uneven than it is today. Many observations came from the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa or New Zealand.

Many other particularly species-rich states, such as the countries of South America or Southeast Asia, had far fewer observations back then than they do today and many species were not even available on iNaturalist.

In order for iNaturalist to gain popularity in these countries as well, I found it very important to enter as many different species as possible into the system and also to update and correct the taxonomy. I think the situation has gotten a lot better now and iNaturalist is becoming more and more important in these countries too.

When identifying plants on iNaturalist, Kai says he usually tries to get an initial family ID general characteristics. “Then I try to determine the respective genus or species using identification keys. Often, with the help of species knowledge or the numerous image databases, it is possible to bypass many steps of the identification process and thus achieve a result more quickly.” (You can see a list of some of Kai’s resources at the end of this blog post.)

Not speaking Spanish, Portuguese, or Chinese, Kai often relies on machine translation and also notes “I [sometimes] understand the content of Spanish or Portuguese texts, especially technical terms that are often very similar in different languages.”

And what types of plant photos are best for identification? “As many different details of the species as possible should be visible.” 

It is therefore highly recommended to take more than one picture of the species. Close-ups of flowers, leaves, fruits, the stem and other features are very helpful. In addition, it often helps to look at the species from different angles, for example a top view of the flowers and a view from the side. Even a picture from further away is helpful so that it is possible to see the habitat of the species.

While he may spend much of his time identifying observations from around the globe, Kai (below) says that using iNat to make observations has led him to some cool finds in his native Germany, like the first arctic sunburst lichen observations in the country, or this very blue liverwort. 

After working as a biological technical assistant at several pharmaceutical companies, Kai lost his job about three years ago and has since had difficulty finding full-time work as he suffers from social phobia and depression. “I probably spend far more time with iNaturalist than with any full-time job before,” he says, “but I don’t know how long I will be able to do this because I somehow have to make a living.”

“My previous jobs did not give me the feeling of doing something useful, even though I worked in the pharmaceutical industry,” he explains. “I felt replaceable and interchangeable. Since I've been helping with iNaturalist, I've had the feeling that I can contribute to something bigger and actually influence and improve it to a certain extent...I think it is very important, especially in this age of habitat destruction and species extinctions that we are living in.”

Some of Kai’s favorite taxa are:

• Section Andinium 
• Alstroemeria
• Chaetanthera
• Nassauvia
• Nototriche
• Oriastrum
• Xenophyllum

He’s also fascinated by mycoheterotrophic and parasitic plants like Tiputinia foetida and Corsia arfakensis.

"Some of my favorite pages that I use for my identifications include for example:

Galería Bioweb Ecuador

Flora Argentina and Flora del Conosur

REFLORA - Flora do Brasil 2020 

Flora of China 

Plant Photo Bank of China 

...and many more.

I usually also check the plant on POWO, the taxonomic backbone for plant species on iNaturalist.

Many papers that have been published at ResearchGate have also helped me very often."

Today, August 2, I met a nice guy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He told me he was taking a Citizen Science course at VCU. I made his acquaintance when trying to ID a Northern Red Oak. He says he uses INaturalist a lot. If you are that person, or a friend of that person, please message me. He seems friendly, and I would like to get to know him better.

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our group dedicated to nature in South Salem and neighbouring areas. This group is extremely laid back and is just for the fun of exploration and nature. So let's have fun and explore!

It's time for our final Summer of Nature Challenge! But first, the July results...

Congrats to @lisabrundage for sweeping all categories! She posted the most observations and found the most species in July AND she won the July mini-challenge with 4 moth observations! @sasha11 and @clow also posted Lepidopteran observations! Great job everyone!

For the month of August, we're going to do a common species scavenger hunt. Last year, we did the most commonly observed North American species. This year, we're looking for the top 25 most observed species in New York State. These are nearly all widely-distributed species in the US, so even if you're not in NY right now, you should still be able to find most of them. You'll have until August 31 to find them all. We'll also announce our top observers over the whole summer and our top species finders.

Here are the top 25 species. I recommend printing this out so you can check them off! Happy observing!

Hola a todos y todas

Los invitamos al Seminario de Ciencia Ciudadana “Encuentro Nacional de Monitoreo Participativo de Biodiversidad”, a realizarse este jueves 5 y viernes 6 de agosto a las 9:30 h vía YouTube y también pueden ingresar a la sala zoom

En dicho evento, el viernes 6 presentaremos nuestro proyecto Compartiendo Caleta la Ciencia de la Bahía de la Herradura, lo que se ha logrado gracias a ustedes y los desafíos que tenemos.

Para participar, deben inscribirse en los enlaces de cada día:

Día 05/08: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DHZglFgzRYeaIuc7jUhs2g

Día 06/08: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_A8qHc-TSQhaosGM2BfYeqA?fbclid=IwAR0t_adkhnSoe9R_wBuQ1_LivLg48HKWRn2A36gewtnE14IkRFtLRq2bY-s

Everyone should know the process that is involved in choosing the OOTW. It is as follows:

1. We look at all Observations made since the previous Sunday/Monday that meet the criteria for the OOTW (The OOTW is always for the previous week).
2. If any of the Criteria, like place of observation and member status, are not met the observation is excluded
3. The photo needs to be in focus and is better if it is of something of scientific interest
4. A corroborating identification is required from one of the specialists at the New York Mycological Society. If they can corroborate the genus and get it down to species all the better (sometimes this is not possible with the information available).
5. Once we know it is in the club's territory, and that the observer is a member of the NYMS, we will ask the observer for permission to use the image (if they have not already given permission to use any of their images)
6. If everything goes smoothly, which it rarely does, the image is loaded into Photoshop and
1. the name of the photographer
2. the Genus/Species (scientific and common names) of the observation
3. the iNaturalist observation ID
4. the iNaturalist handle of the observer
are overlayed on top of the photo.
7. The observer is sent 3 links, one of the original photo, a second with a squared version of the photo, and a third as it appears on the iNaturalist project page
8. The photo is posted as the cover photo for this umbrella project
9. Further information is gathered and displayed in the "More Info" page for the observation
10. The photo either in it's original form, or in an edited form is posted to all the NYMS social Media accounts

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81850856#activity_comment_d34d6052-6f48-47d5-9f96-6762a9046816

Hi everyone!

Wow, more than 900 amazing observations! Incredible. Soon we will begin taking a deeper look into the predictors for whether a tree is healthy/unhealthy.

Feedback needed
We need your input to improve the user experience of the project. What questions should we remove, reword or add? Please share your anonymous feedback at https://foresthealth.org/inat

Thank you all!!

The 'Backyard Beetles and Pollinators' EREN/NEON flexible project is continuing for another year ahead - join us! Designed to be flexible and inclusive for all kinds of students, regardless of where they are joining class from.

Learn more here - https://erenweb.org/eren-neon-flexible-learning-projects/backyard-beetles-pollinators/

Diesen Monat steht gleich eine ganze Gattung im Fokus, die Glockenblumen, Gattung Campanula.
Gleich mehrere Arten der Gattung gelten als Magerkeitszeiger, z.B. Campanula glomerata, Campanula patula und Campanula rotundifolia. Bisher sind sie noch relativ weit verbreitet, aber wie alle Arten magerer Böden leiden sie unter der zunehmenden Eutrophierung und sind rückläufig. Deshalb lohnt es sich auf jeden Fall Daten zu den Glockenblumen zu sammeln!
Viele Glockenblumen-Beobachtungen bleiben unbestimmt oder fraglich. Das liegt daran, dass sich einige Arten stark ähneln. Wichtig ist es daher, dass die richtigen Merkmale fotografiert werden. Dazu gehört insbesondere eine Seitenansicht der Blüten, bei der man erkennen kann, wie weit die Krone eingeschnitten ist und wie die Kelchblätter gestaltet sind, siehe z.B. hier: http://www.blumeninschwaben.de/Zweikeimblaettrige/Glockenblumen/patula_agg.htm
Wie üblich sollte aber am besten auch die Pflanze im Ganzen und die Blätter zu sehen sein.
Richtig fotografiert können die Bilder dann hier auch nachbestimmt werden und leisten einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Kenntnis der aktuellen Verbreitung. Und schön anzusehen sind die Glockenblumen sowieso!
Allen Beobachter*innen weiterhin viel Freude wünscht
das Zebra

• I used iNat to record invasives. We observed
  Chinaberry (abundant in the first part of the trail)
  Tree privet (present throughout the first half of the trail before it loops back to the trailhead. Most of the individuals we spotted had signs of girdling but they looked healthy).
  Quihoui privet
  Heavenly bamboo
  Chinese pistache,
  Johnsongrass (mostly at the banks of the creek)
  Lantana (one individual, not sure if it is considered invasive)

• Jim used an app to record the coordinates of the invasive species and create a map.
• There may be an opportunity for tree seedling planting after invasives are removed.
• The trail has mostly a closed canopy except for the meadow area. In the areas where we had access to the creek, we observed an open canopy.
• We did not observe erosion problems next to the creek or lack of vegetation, but I do not have an expert eye for it. Input for city Biologist may be needed.
• In the meadow, I did not see any wildflowers flowering at this time. I did see wildflowers already in the seed stage and grasses. There may be an opportunity for native seeding (species that flower later in the summer such as native members of the Asteraceae family).
• We checked some of the quadrats with milkweed but did not see milkweed growing. Planted too late in the season? Not enough watering?
• The signage along the trail will need to be replaced. Pictures and text have faded.

Hi everyone,

there are not so many observations for https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/455171-Nanophyes-marmoratus, but it appears that they are often found on Lythrum salicaria (or at least beetles from the same genus). I found some of these tiny fellows today, in the upper parts of the plant between the buds.

Cheers
Monika

A pair of Peregrine Falcons playing with their food. © Michael Sargent.

Congratulations to Michael Sargent for winning the July 2021 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist. Mike’s photo of a Peregrine Falcon pair engaged in an acrobatic aerial food transfer narrowly beat some tough competition this month to end up with the most faves of any observation in the state for July.

You might recognize Mike’s name from his many photographic contributions over the years to our blog posts from the VCE Mount Mansfield Banding Station. While a longtime photographer and friend of VCE, Mike’s only recently joined the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, where his photo received quite the warm welcome! Peregrine Falcons are one of the most charismatic and exciting bird species in the state, and their acrobatic behaviors are thrilling to watch. This pair seems to have slightly miscalculated their aerial food transfer, with the prey item (a European Starling) tumbling below their grip. Rather than come straight in to the nest, a Peregrine Falcon returning with food will often wait for its partner to fly out, where the prey item is handed off or even dropped in midair. The quick reflexes and staggering speed and agility of Peregrine Falcons allows these transfers to go smoothly most of the time, and this behavior results in some spectacular displays of ‘passing the baton’ with any mishaps corrected by a steep dive to catch the plummeting prey before it hits the ground.

With 34,237 observations submitted by 2,201 observers in July, it was very competitive. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

We have extended the Vermont Mission Monarch Blitz until August 8th due to so so so much rain. It is super easy to do a survey and can take as little as 15 min. for a small patch. Help us get a snapshot of Monarch populations in Vermont! Check it out at https://val.vtecostudies.org/missions/vermont-mission-monarch-blitz and add your surveys!

Thanks everybody. You got the Rubus parviflorus to Research Grade with the correct name! -- Barbara