Journal archives for March 2019

March 01, 2019

The Blitz is ON: rain or shine!

Dear Sam McDonald BioBlitzers -

We are going to brave the rainy forecasts for tomorrow. The organizers of the Blitz have designed a strategy whereby people can fan out across the park through car-pooling, and explore some of the most bio-diverse corners of the park without being far from the shelter of their vehicles. While the weather may suppress some taxa (birds and mammals) it may encourage others (salamanders and more intensely colored lichens). Be a champion for nature and come out to BioBlitz the rainforest - in the rain! It's the habitat!

8:45 in the main parking lot.

Jennifer Rycenga (a.k.a. gyrrlfalcon)

Posted on March 01, 2019 05:32 PM by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

The Sam McDonald Blitz is ON: rain or shine!

Dear Sam McDonald BioBlitzers -The BioBlitz is ON!

We are going to brave the rainy forecast for tomorrow. The organizers of the Blitz have designed a strategy whereby people can fan out across the park through car-pooling, and explore some of the most bio-diverse corners of the park without being far from the shelter of their vehicles. While the weather may suppress some taxa (birds and mammals) it may encourage others (salamanders and more intensely colored lichens). Be a champion for nature and come out to BioBlitz the rainforest - in the rain! It's the habitat!

8:45 in the main parking lot.

Jennifer Rycenga (a.k.a. gyrrlfalcon)

Posted on March 01, 2019 05:55 PM by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 03, 2019

Great Job, Team!

Dear BioBlitzers - A job well done, under less-than-perfect conditions.

We are steaming towards over 200 species and over 900 observations. Some genuinely unusual species were found, especially fungi - a by-product of this remarkably welcome wet winter.

Please do your part, to the best of your abilities, to help with identifying observations of others.

And don't forget to join us for more BioBlitz fun at Huddart County Park, Saturday, April 27, as part of the City Nature Challenge!

Thanks again - Jennifer (a.k.a. gyrrlfalcon)

Posted on March 03, 2019 05:15 AM by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 11, 2019

Conservation Roundtable at Sequoia Audubon General Meeting March 14

I want to invite all participants in the San Mateo County Bio-Blitz project to share their energies and ideas at the Sequoia meeting this week. It is my personal opinion that community-scientist groups have much to contribute to local conservation projects, from data collection to monitoring to activism. Plus, we have some iNaturalist participants on the panel - @marshalldinowitz , @papiliogal , @janekim1 , @shani , and @joseph103

Environmental Protection is one of the key political and moral issues of our time, from climate change, to development and resource depletion. Some predictive models warn of mass extinctions and population collapse for many species. Sequoia Audubon Society has played an important role in our first seventy years, protecting San Mateo county habitat along the shores and in the Santa Cruz mountains. But what can and should we be doing over the next few decades?

On Thursday March 14, our general meeting will feature a panel of local environmental activists, all with an abiding interest in local habitat protection and avian conservation. Sequoia Audubon’s Conservation Committee chair, Marshall Dinowitz, will be joined by award-winning Amber Hasselbring of Nature in the City, renowned nature artist Jane Kim, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society’s highly successful Environmental Advocate, Shani Kleinhaus, and three of Sequoia Audubon’s finest advocates, each of whom has helped gain protection for birds and habitats in our county: Joe Morlan, Gary Deghi, and Kent Forward. They will share their successes, frustrations, and indicate ways for you (singly and collectively) to become involved, in big and small ways, in saving the planet.

Sequoia Audubon meets at the San Mateo Garden Center, 605 Parkside Way, just off the Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo. Meet-and-greet starts at 6:30, complete with delicious snacks and shade-grown coffee. The meeting proper starts at 7:00 PM. Free and open to all, accessible location, free parking. See you there - bring your energy, your curiosity, and your ideas.

Jennifer Rycenga

Posted on March 11, 2019 01:42 AM by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

The Second Huddart BioBlitz

Back in September of 2018, we BioBlitzed the western 2/3rds of Huddart Park. Check out the results here - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2018-huddart-park-bioblitz

For this bioBlitz, we will be focusing on the eastern sections of the park. There is even more habitat diversity here than in the extensive areas we covered in the fall - open meadows, mixed oak, redwood, and Douglas-fir areas. Due to all the rain this year, there are running creeks, too.

Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Posted on March 11, 2019 02:57 AM by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon | 0 comments | Leave a comment