On the surprisingly foggy morning of November 16th, over 100 volunteers gathered at the Mockingbird Hill entrance of the vast Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Among those who came were San Jose State Students, Stanford students and even a sizable Girl Scout troop. Together they all explored the variety of nature that the park had to offer. These explorers used the iNatrualist app to collect and categorize all the living things that call Almaden Quicksilver home. Lead by expert docents, each participant got the chance to take a closer look at the secret lives of plants, bugs, birds and more.
Over the course of 2 hours there were close to 1000 recorded observations. Through those observation approximately 230 different species were identified. All these observations have been recorded in our project and put into a national database that can help park managers better protect all these living things and scientists monitor species activity. It just goes to show that anyone and everyone can do science.
Here are some of the interesting finds:
Above: "Water Pennies" are aquatic beetles found on the undersides of creek rocks.
(Photo Credit Merav Vonshak)
As one volunteers put it, “it's always great to see how many people show up and care about wildlife. It's inspiring getting out there and seeing a new park, and it makes me happy.” We do visit many parks, including this one. As Merav button says, "so many critters, so little time."
Above: A Buckeye Butterfly on an invasive Star-thistle.
(Photo Credit Merav Vonshak)
Above: Some people shared their favorite parts of the BioBlitz.
(Photo Credit: Deb Kramer)
If you want to take a look at all the cool living things they found please check out the Almaden Quicksliver BioBlitz iNaturalist page. And, join us for another one by checking our calendar.