m_whitson's Journal

Run by the Campbell County Cooperative Extension Service, the Campbell County Environmental Education Center holds both indoor and outdoor eductional programs, from shiitake mushroom production to night hikes to tree identification.

Facilities in and around the Center include aquariums, an observation bee hive, solar panels, and a bird-watching area.

Adjacent to AJ Jolly Park, the property surrounds part of AJ Jolly Lake. Two walking trails provide woodland and wetland access. The Interpretive Trail (about a mile long) covers relatively flat terrain, providing educational signage and easy access to field and mixed-hardwood habitats, as well as a boardwalk through the wetlands. The Homestead Trail is shorter (1/3 mile) and loops through hardwood forest and more moderate, hilly terrain.

The main building and parking area are at:
1261 Race Track Road
Alexandria, KY 41001

Trail maps and information on upcoming events can be found through UK's Cooperative Extension website and the Education Center's Facebook page.

This is meant to be a resource to introduce my students to the site and to supplement an "Intro to iNat" program I'm giving. If you're already an active iNat user, you probably don't need this (but if you're planning to do a program of your own or are trying to brainwash friends and neighbors, feel free to link people here).

One goal of iNaturalist ( https://www.inaturalist.org/home ) is to encourage people to go outside and connect with nature.

I was a nature nerd before iNaturalist was invented. Can iNat really help me discover new things? Well...

My iNat Discoveries:
These are things I discovered because:
1) I found something cool and used iNat to help me find out more.
2) Browsing iNat observations alerted me to cool things that I, too, might find.

What I now know because of iNat: the short list

There are sand monsters in my flowerbed.
Wasps parasitize EVERYTHING. From bug eggs to fly larvae to aphids.
Some fungi are picky eaters. This one only eats fallen juniper twiglets, while this one only likes ladybug shells.
Some bees make cotton balls.
Even duckweeds have leaf miners.
Not all ladybugs are red. There are also white ones and black ones and yellow ones.
Bees stick out their tongues. There's even an iNat project devoted to this: Bees concentrating nectar.
Some caterpillars aren't. Only one eye? It's a sawfly.
Some wasps aren't, either. Wasps have two pairs of wings. Flies have one.
No lichen is safe from a botanist with a base.