Merck Forest BioBlitz 2021 Recap!

The 3^rd Annual Merck Forest BioBlitz has come and gone, and what a success!

Check out the project page if you haven't since the end of the event for all the info in this recap and more.

The 21 iNaturalist participants helped us log 1,286 observations for the weekend, including 549 different species. Here’s a bit of a breakdown:

• 259 Insect Species
• 161 Plant Species
• 68 Fungi Species
• 23 Arachnid Species
• 10 Amphibian Species
• 8 Bird Species
• 4 Protozoan Species
• 2 Reptile Species

The most observed species were:

1. Herpetogramma moths (12)
2. Common Idia Moth (Idia aemula) (12)
3. Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis) (10)
4. Monarch (Danaus plexippus) (9)
5. Two-spotted Bumble Bee (Bombus bimaculatus) (8)
6. Clover Looper Moth (Caenurgina crassiuscula) (7)

The furthest observation from the Joy Green Visitor’s Center was made by @mellohrer of a member of the Darner family (Aeshnidae): 1.66 mi from the visitor’s center. Way to get out there!

And so far, over 140 different iNaturalist users have contributed to the identification of our observations posted during the weekend. In addition to the over 80 people we engaged with about the BioBlitz at our event HQ, there have been over 200 people involved with our effort.

Thanks to all who were involved for their time and naturalist skills offered to Merck Forest’s 3^rd Annual BioBlitz; we couldn’t do it without you!

See you again next year!

-Max, Tim, and the Merck Forest Staff

Posted on July 29, 2021 04:21 PM by maxmiley