Here’s a quick summary of the Norfolk Forest IBA BioBlitz. With your amazing efforts, our final count is just over 1470 species and you all contributed a whopping 3824 observations! Collectively we identified over 120 bird species, 618 plant species, 649 insect species (including an astounding 388 moth species!), as well as reptiles, amphibians, freshwater mussels, bats, and fish (breakdown below). Highlights included tallying an impressive 67 species at risk, including Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, Eastern Fox Snake, and Hognose Snake; and rarities like Dickcissel, Perfoliate Bellwort, Schreber's Wood Aster, and Putty Root.

Here are a few articles that we have written about BioBlitzing and our event:

Bird Studies Canada (BSC) featured a blog about the Norfolk Forest IBA and other BioBlitzes this summer: https://www.birdscanada.org/news/bioblitzes-bring-canadians-together-to-study-and-enjoy-nature, and here https://www.birdscanada.org/news/celebrating-nature-all-summer-long-with-bioblitz-canada-150.

Liv Monck-Whipp from the Nature Conservancy of Canada highlighted the event in a great blog: http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/blog/spotting-species-in-norfolk.html#.WdeqU1tSx0x.

A joint blog between Ontario IBA Coordinator and Ontario Parks was released in September: http://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/turkey-point-norfolk-forest-complex-iba/

Most recently we have written a feature article in BSC’s BirdWatch Canada about the importance of BioBlitzes entitled “Catching the BioBlitz Bug”: http://birdscanada.org/download/BWCfa17.pdf.

For those on Twitter and Instagram you can check out highlights from our event by visiting #NorfolkBioBlitz. There’s also a photo and video compilation here: https://twitter.com/i/moments/875924117681295362. We also put out a Facebook photo album the day after the event; you can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/birdscanada/posts/1373125892772757.

On all fronts the turnout and results from our BioBlitz completely exceeded our expectations. Not only was this a successful trial run of a BioBlitz in an IBA but it was also a lot of fun! Thanks again every one, we could not have done this without your passion, hard work, and enthusiasm.

Sincerely,

Jody Allair and Amanda Bichel
Bird Studies Canada

The 2017 Norfolk Forest IBA BioBlitz was made possible by generous funding from the Government of Canada and support from the Canadian Wildlife Federation, who oversaw these projects. Special thanks go to the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Long Point Basin Land Trust for their support on the ground and during the planning stages of the Norfolk Forest IBA BioBlitz.

Final Tally

Number of enthusiastic experts and volunteers 50
Number of hours surveyed 24
Number of insect species identified 649
Number of plant species identified 618
Number of bird species identified 120
Number of fungi species identified 21
Number of mammal species identified 17
Number of arachnid species identified 15
Number of reptile species identified 9
Number of amphibian species identified 8
Number of fish species identified 5
Number of freshwater mussel species identified 2
Number of species at risk identified 67
Total number of species identified in 24 hours 1472 less ↑