Sunday wrap-up, and some thank yous as we enter the final stretch!
We hope everyone had a great weekend of exploring and documenting our local wildlife! @Hexagonaria and I headed up to McLean Game Refuge in Granby today to add some more observations in the northernmost part of Hartford County, it was our first time visiting that location and it was really beautiful. Can't wait to go back, we didn't make it all that far because we were taking so many pictures!
As of 11:00 PM we are at 661 species - we are catching up to some of the more established City Nature Challenges in our area, like CNC Fairfield/Westchester and CNC Western Mass!
Special thanks to @kellyfuerstenberg, @scmayo, @arobey63 and @codylimber for responding to some of the suggestions we made yesterday and taking photos of mollusks, seaweed, etc. down at the shore - that really helped boost our species count, including a number of observations in the Chromista Kingdom.
Is it just me or does it look like these periwinkles from @scmayo are snuggling? :)
We're so happy that a couple of groundhogs made it onto our project today - Chase and I have one living under an old shed in our yard, and we've been patiently waiting for it to make an appearance this weekend to no avail. Our project wouldn't be complete without a groundhog - here's one photographed by @arobey63 today in Milford:
@Arobey63 also boosted our mammal count with a muskrat!
It was also another great day for birds, with several new species added to the project and many more beautiful photos taken. Owls are now represented with this Eastern Screech Owl observed by @codylimber:
@august2fly captured this Lapland Longspur, also a new species for our project:
@sara_fagan brought our amphibian count up to 8 with a Wood Frog observed in Bethany:
We are still learning about new plants all the time as we encounter plants that we didn't have in the midwest. For example, I didn't know about the bright and delicate Fringed Polygala, observed today by @arobey63:
There were also a few observations that I'm thrilled to have in our project, but also thrilled that I didn't personally encounter myself, like this Black-and-Gold Flat Millipede (seen by @kellyfuerstenberg, who got closer than I would have been able to!):
There are so many amazing organisms that you all have captured, I know you all will enjoy looking through them all during the identification phase of the City Nature Challenge (continuing through 9AM EST on May 6). For now, I will leave you with my most interesting (and smelliest) observation of the day - bacteria from the genus Leptothrix, which produce an orange slime (ferrihydrite) and rainbow-colored films sometimes mistaken for oil spills. More about this here: https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/gooey-slimy-colorful-what-can-it-possibly-be
Tomorrow is our last day for observations, so if you are able to get outside on a Monday and make a few observations, we may just surpass 700 species!! Fantastic work everyone,
-Sarah (@chiforager) and Chase (@hexagonaria)
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