we’re coming down the home stretch! It’s almost here! We are officially entering the week of the international BACKYARD NATURE CHALLENGE, nee City Nature Challenge! This coming weekend, we will be exploring our backyards and neighborhoods for interesting organisms to photograph, then uploading those pics to iNaturalist. Thereafter, begins the process of working through… Read more »
IMPORTANT NOTE: For those who are interested in participating in the international Backyard Nature Challenge, which begins next Friday (April 24th), you may want to view the recording of yesterday’s Zoom meeting about documenting and uploading your nature observations so that they are counted toward the Baltimore totals. The event organizers at the National Aquarium… Read more »
IMPORTANT NOTE: For those who are interested in participating in the international Backyard Nature Challenge, which begins next Friday (April 24th), you may want to view the recording of today’s Zoom meeting about documenting and uploading your nature observations so that they are counted toward the Baltimore totals. The event organizers at the National Aquarium… Read more »
IMPORTANT NOTE: For those who are interested and available, the National Aquarium will be running an open Zoom meeting Friday 4/17 at 1:00 to train folks about the use of iNaturalist for next weekend’s Backyard Nature Challenge. Anyone who would like to be a part of that meeting or who would like to receive a… Read more »
So, did we perform just as well on ID Challenge #2? Although some of the species were not things you’d encounter every day, all are relatively common to the MD Piedmont, if one knows where/when to look. You should have identified the following 12 organisms (each listed with a few ‘fun facts’ to know): … Read more »
So, did everyone get off to a great start on the first ID challenge? Hopefully you correctly identified: Red Fox* Eastern Box Turtle Common Eastern Bumble Bee Great Blue Heron Poison Ivy (y’all better know this one!) American Dog Tick Mallard (male) American Bullfrog* American Holly White-tailed Deer Monarch* Bald Eagle *Photos taken right on… Read more »
The countdown has begun! The international Backyard Nature Challenge is less than two weeks away. We are hoping that many members of the Irvine community will become involved, either by documenting nature found in their own yards or neighborhoods or by helping others identify what they’ve found. Much has been written over the… Read more »
Charge Your Camera or Phone! Dust off your field guides! The countdown has begun! BACKYARD Only two weeks until the international City ^ Nature… Read more »
An encouraging (and somewhat amusing) update to bring nature to YOU, since you’re not able to come here . . . In between several meetings yesterday, Brooks and I took a quick hike down to the wetlands. Apparently we hit the absolute peak of American Toad mating season! There were hundreds, if not thousands, of… Read more »
If you’ve read through our now-obsolete Spring edition of Understory, you may have seen that Irvine had partnered with the National Aquarium to be one of many ‘site sponsors’ for the International City Nature Challenge in late April. This program, in only its 5th year, is an incredible success story about the powers of technology… Read more »
