Archivos de diario de mayo 2021

01 de mayo de 2021

Calling All New York City Nature Lovers

We need your help to reach the top ten worldwide

New York City is currently number eleven in the World
Our New Jersey neighbor and part-time New York City team member, Sara Rall @srall is the number four identifier in the World
Sara Rall, Sandy Wolkenberg @sadawolk and Chris Kreussling @xris are the number one, two and three identifiers for NYC
Daniel Atha @danielatha is the top observer in the World
Daniel, Sara Rall and Kelly O'Donnell @klodonnell are the top three observers in NYC
The Bronx has the most observations in New York City
Manhattan has the most observers
Manhattan has the most species

Global Leaderboard
Battle of the Boroughs
Park-by-Park Competition
Short Training Video
Longer Training Video
City Nature Challenge 2021: New York City Project page managed by Kelly O'Donnell at Macaulay Honors College
Virtual Events
Events Preview

Publicado el mayo 1, 2021 10:51 MAÑANA por danielatha danielatha | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario

02 de mayo de 2021

Calling All New York City Nature Lovers

Help New York City stay in the top ten worldwide. We are almost 500 strong! With two days left (Sunday and Monday), if we each make twenty-five observations per day, we'll be number one!

Try leaving your photos on the camera roll and uploading them later using the desktop program. Drag and drop as a batch is quicker than uploading one by one with the mobile app. You'll spend more time enjoying Nature and less time looking at your phone!

Global Leaderboard
Battle of the Boroughs
Park-by-Park Competition
Short Training Video
Longer Training Video
City Nature Challenge 2021: New York City Project page managed by Kelly O'Donnell at Macaulay Honors College
Virtual Events

Besides having fun, breathing fresh air and getting better acquainted with the wild inhabitants of New York, the City Nature Challenge has scientific and conservation benefits as well. In 2019, Lynette Lewis @lynalew found the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell, Veronica sublobata (pictured below), a species never recorded for New York State. Here's how she described her experience....

"I went to Staten Island that day because of the City Nature Challenge! I was in college when the CNC started; Dr. Kelly O'Donnell recruits & trains Macaulay student volunteers to help. That year I was the only one who signed up to make the trek down to Staten Island. Very long commutes are nothing new for me, given my suburb is isolated from gentrified Brooklyn. But I underestimated how much time that trip would take. As a volunteer, I tried making as many observations as possible while traveling to & from events. During the CNC, my main goal is to make more observations than I did the previous year/go somewhere new. Not looking for a specific species allows me to be more open to everything around the space."

Lynette's observation was later identified by the World's Veronica expert, Dr. Dirk Albach @albach and the three of us will soon publish a paper together registering the species for New York State.

The May EcoQuest challenge is VERIFY VERONICA. If you find the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell anywhere in New York this month, your observation will be cited in the publication.

Register here for the May 17 presentation by Dirk Albach The Genus Veronica (Speedwells) - In 15 Million Years to New York

Publicado el mayo 2, 2021 10:38 MAÑANA por danielatha danielatha | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

03 de mayo de 2021

Calling All New York City Nature Lovers

Who says New Yorkers don't love nature? Over 700 of you have observed 1,343 species of Sponges, Fish, Snails, Crabs, Clams, Insects, Birds, Mammals, Plants and Fungi. Out of 400 cities, NYC is number 11. The competition ends at midnight tonight. Can we finish ahead of Boston and North Taiwan for a spot in the top ten?

Try leaving your photos on the camera roll and uploading them later using the desktop program. Drag and drop as a batch is quicker than uploading one by one with the mobile app. You'll spend more time enjoying Nature and less time looking at your phone!

Global Leaderboard
Battle of the Boroughs
Park-by-Park Competition
Short Training Video
Longer Training Video
City Nature Challenge 2021: New York City Project page managed by Kelly O'Donnell at Macaulay Honors College
Virtual Events

Besides having fun, breathing fresh air and getting better acquainted with the wild inhabitants of New York, the City Nature Challenge has scientific and conservation benefits as well. In 2019, Lynette Lewis @lynalew found the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell, Veronica sublobata (pictured below), a species never recorded for New York State. Here's how she described her experience....

"I went to Staten Island that day because of the City Nature Challenge! I was in college when the CNC started; Dr. Kelly O'Donnell recruits & trains Macaulay student volunteers to help. That year I was the only one who signed up to make the trek down to Staten Island. Very long commutes are nothing new for me, given my suburb is isolated from gentrified Brooklyn. But I underestimated how much time that trip would take. As a volunteer, I tried making as many observations as possible while traveling to & from events. During the CNC, my main goal is to make more observations than I did the previous year/go somewhere new. Not looking for a specific species allows me to be more open to everything around the space."

Lynette's observation was later identified by the World's Veronica expert, Dr. Dirk Albach @albach and the three of us will soon publish a paper together registering the species for New York State.

The May EcoQuest challenge is VERIFY VERONICA. If you find the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell anywhere in New York this month, your observation will be cited in the publication.

Register here for the May 17 presentation by Dirk Albach The Genus Veronica (Speedwells) - In 15 Million Years to New York

Publicado el mayo 3, 2021 12:33 TARDE por danielatha danielatha | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

04 de mayo de 2021

My Personal Experience of the City Nature Challenge

Congratulations to the 803 New Yorkers who participated in the 2021 City Nature Challenge! Team NYC is in the top 95 percent world wide for observations and observers. We have a week to upload any remaining nature sightings and put names on everything. I have some bird recordings to upload and I’m going to scan through the rejects from the last four days for any that are identifiable. Results will be announced May 10.

The CNC has become the highlight of my year. For four days I’m totally immersed in nature. It’s like camping right here in the City or a retreat in the Catskills. From sunup to sundown I’m outside with the plants and animals, listening to bird song and reveling in our spectacular park landscapes. There are no scandals, no horrific tragedies, just the rhythm of life unfolding as it should.

Mother nature is in charge. Rain or shine, hot or cold, everyone is provided for and there are no favorites. I eat nuts and seeds like a bird (no insects!) and drink rainwater thanks to our amazing aqueduct system. Like the Turkey Vultures floating above, I’m always moving, always looking for something interesting. I go to sleep good-kind-of tired and wake up invigorated and excited by the day ahead, outside somewhere in the 300 square miles of New York City. My six senses are stimulated simultaneously, but not in a contrived way meant to inflame my emotions or put me to sleep. A whole years-worth of fat accumulation melts away, right where it counts. My mind is active too. “Did I already get that species of Hawkweed?”, “Was that Pelham Bay or High Rock Park where I saw the Swamp Loosestrife?” “I can’t forget to add a note that the Woodpecker was in the Shagbark Hickory, south of the trail leading to the meadow.”

It’s nature therapy for the mind, body and spirit. The Japanese call it Shinrin-yoku. Forty percent of New York City is open space and we are blessed with a diversity of forests, wetlands and seashore. Spending time in the fresh, nature-infused air lowers blood pressure, boosts the immune system, slows heart rate and calms the mind. After four days, I am reset physically, mentally and spiritually and the benefits last a whole year.

I’m grateful to iNaturalist, the California Academy of Science and the Natural History Museum Los Angeles County for organizing the City Nature Challenge, bringing Nature lovers around the world together to celebrate life on Earth. And we should all thank the New York City Parks Department for their great work protecting nature in New York City.

The May EcoQuest challenge is VERIFY VERONICA. If you find the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell (pictured below) anywhere in New York this month, your observation will be cited in the publication.

Register here for the May 17 presentation by Dirk Albach The Genus Veronica (Speedwells) - In 15 Million Years to New York








Publicado el mayo 4, 2021 02:34 TARDE por danielatha danielatha | 3 comentarios | Deja un comentario

16 de mayo de 2021

Why Confirm the ID When the Observation is Already Research Grade?

Several reasons:

  1. Confirmation by a specialist adds value.
  2. So far, I have found 43 plants misidentified as Sea Grape, Coccoloba uvifera: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_taxon_id=127284&place_id=any&ident_user_id=20600&without_taxon_id=127284. That's almost one percent of all those I've reviewed. 510 plants misidentified as American Jumpseed, Persicaria virginiana: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_taxon_id=144047&place_id=any&ident_user_id=20600&without_taxon_id=144047. That's 4.6 percent of the 11,000 I've reviewed.
  3. Of course, I have made a mistake or two myself, but I learn the genus better by seeing many observations.

The same reasons I add annotations confirming identifications on herbarium specimens for species I am familiar with. And in this case, the "annotation" doesn't even take up any real estate on the "specimen".

Publicado el mayo 16, 2021 01:07 MAÑANA por danielatha danielatha | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario

NYBG EcoFlora May EcoQuest Challenge


VERIFY VERONICA


Veronica (Speedwell) is the largest genus in the Plantaginaceae family, with about 500 species. In New York City, there are 12 species: 8 introduced; 2 indigenous likely extinct (American Brooklime, Veronica americana and Marsh Speedwell, Veronica scutellata); 1 common indigenous (Purslane Speedwell, Veronica peregrina); and newly observed Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell (Veronica sublobata), which has tiny pink flowers and hairy flower stalks (pictured here). Can you find it?

In 2019, Lynette Lewis @lynalew found the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell, Veronica sublobata (pictured below), a species never recorded for New York State. Here's how she described her experience....

"I went to Staten Island that day because of the City Nature Challenge! I was in college when the CNC started; Dr. Kelly O'Donnell recruits & trains Macaulay student volunteers to help. That year I was the only one who signed up to make the trek down to Staten Island. Very long commutes are nothing new for me, given my suburb is isolated from gentrified Brooklyn. But I underestimated how much time that trip would take. As a volunteer, I tried making as many observations as possible while traveling to & from events. During the CNC, my main goal is to make more observations than I did the previous year/go somewhere new. Not looking for a specific species allows me to be more open to everything around the space."

Lynette's observation was later identified by the World's Veronica expert, Dr. Dirk Albach @albach and the three of us will soon publish a paper together registering the species for New York State. If you find the Pink Ivy-Leaved Speedwell anywhere in New York this month, your observation will be cited in the publication.

Register here for the May 17 presentation by Dirk Albach The Genus Veronica (Speedwells) - In 15 Million Years to New York



Publicado el mayo 16, 2021 01:30 MAÑANA por danielatha danielatha | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario