Diario del proyecto GFNC Invertebrates Collection

A halfway update on the prelude competition. we have just clicked over 100 iNaturalist users contributing at least one observation. We would hope to sign up a further 200 people by Earth day and hopefully all will be involved in the City Nature Challenge occurring over the ANZAC long weekend.

The Surf Coast remains the leading area in terms of observation and Bellarine has the most observers. Details at https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/cnc-geelong-regions

That could all change as people start recording more species in their backyard.
When out, please ensure social distancing and continue to maintain good hygiene practices.

https://citynaturechallenge.org/covid19/
https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/31664-exploring-nature-when-you-re-stuck-at-home

Regards Rod

Hi All,
We are 19 days into our prelude to the City Nature Challenge whereby we are looking at the accumulation of observation across the Geelong Region.
There have been 70 observers submit observations with a total 281 species recorded.
The Surf Coast has bolted away with in terms of observations and total species count in part due to some GFNC members attending the Frogwood Arboretum/ Bambra wetlands excursion last weekend.

The area summaries are shown at https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/cnc-geelong-regions
Leaders for the various areas as follows:
Surf Coast- John Neman
Bellarine – Jane Morrow
Geelong City – Rod Lowther
Upper Barwon and Otways- John Neman
Northern Greater Geelong- mdbirds

The prelude will continue until the 22nd April so keep those observation coming in!

As with the City Nature Challenge, casual observations are allowed and count towards observation number but will not be considered in the species listing. The process is on the web submission page instead of selecting “Choose files” command, click on the “More Import Options” and follow the instructions. This will enable ebird lists to be included and if anyone wishes some help with the process of uploading - please contact me for additional instructions.

I have had a few questions around the boundaries of our Gelong region for the CNC and in response to requests I have amended it slightly to now include Mud Island and all of Colac ( previously we only had the outer areas to the east).

Details on our survey region can be viewed at https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/places/geelong-bioblitz-region
I am happy to report the City Nature Challenge will still be on in April but we recently were advised by the International Organisers that it will no longer should be considered as a competition as many area are impacted due the Coronavirus and their group activities are be scaled down or prohibited.
The CNC event promotes biodiversity and seeks to have people to connect with nature- this can still be achieved under the current circumstances and CNC – Geelong will focus its efforts in having people record observations from their backyard, park and reserves as individuals or very small groups while still ensuring good social distancing principles and other hygiene practices are in place.

For further information around the City Nature Challenge – Geelong, you may contact me via the iNaturalist messaging system or directly by email
Best wishes, Rodl

Rod.lowther@live.com

Geelong is participating in the worldwide City Nature Challenge coordinated by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and California Academy of Science. In total there are 265 cities involved with Adelaide, Redland City (Qld) and Sydney being the other Australian cities.
The City Nature Challenge runs from the 24th April till the end of the 27th April for observation, while a further 6 days to avialble to ensure observation made during that period are upload and species are identified in iNaturalist.
A master project has been established that will track all cities observation while a separate project will show in more details the Geelong area observation. The links are:

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020-geelong

I have also created additional projects for rarea within the region covered by Geelong BioBlitz. For these projects, I have set dates to cover the March period as a warmup and demonstration of how it function during the CNC. It also allow us to track where the observations are most likely to arise and where our efforts might need to be foccussed. In highlighting these local areas is to the different Landcare and Friends groups, I am hoping to create some internal competition and interest. These projects will have the dates reset at the start of CNC period ie the ANZAC long weekend in April.

Here is the link to the master project and by clicking on the separate bars you can see the details applicable to each area. On the project page, the leader board can be sorted by Observation, Species and Observers.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/cnc-geelong-regions

You can become a member of these projects and follow the City Nature Challenge progress during the observation period at the global, Geelong or area level.

In this month's Geelong Naturalists, Helen Schofield has written an article on the upcoming Wild Pollinator Count happening in April and we hope that many club members can get involved. I wish to also draw your attention to the iNaturalists project that has been set up by the event organisers. See https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/wild-pollinator-count
You can add an observation directly by going to the project page or alternatively on any Invertebrate observation that you consider is undertaking pollination can be included via your normal observation uploading.

On your observation, on the right-hand side of the page is a field “Projects" Enter Wild Pollinator Count.
A pop-up box will appear asking for additional information.
Flower Plant-Name of Plant the pollinator is visiting?
Is the Plant Native or exotic? Yes/No
During an official count period? Yes /No

The official Wild Pollinator Count is on from the 12th to the 19th April.
Previously submitted observations can be included in the Wild Pollinator Project.

Regards Rod