Wrapping up 2020
With all of this year's expeditions postponed, 2020 could have been a complete write-off for Bush Blitz, but through the Backyard Species Discovery project we have continued to raise awareness and help collect data on Australia's biodiversity. Thank you to everyone at iNaturalist, who allowed the project to happen, and all the project members, curators and others who have added or identified observations.
One of the unexpected positive outcomes this year is that we've been able to reach people all over Australia, not just those living in the few remote areas that we planned to visit. A highlight was working with a teacher and young students at Kongwak Primary School in Victoria. They unknowingly uploaded images of a woodlouse infected with a rare virus. The viral taxonomist who spotted their observations visited them, once travel restrictions had eased, to collect specimens and answer their questions. They even made the ABC news.
Discovering nature has helped many of us through difficult times and some of you also told us that you've enjoyed our challenges. So here's one last challenge for 2020. For our Summer Sounds Challenge, listen to the video and tell us what kind of animal made each of the 6 sounds. Hint: 2 are cicadas. There are bonus points if you can identify them all! Comment by midday 4 January for a chance to win a Bush Blitz cap.
Bush Blitz is excited to recommence expeditions in 2021, starting with Stony Head (Tasmania) in March. To reduce the risk of disruption due to travel restrictions, we've put together a team of Tasmanian scientists and are looking for two Tassie teachers to join them. If you know anyone who might be suitable, please let them know about this once in a lifetime opportunity.
The Bush Blitz team will be taking a break over Christmas and New Year. We hope you are able to get out and discover nature, wherever you are. We look forward to seeing what you've added, and will respond to any messages, when we return on 4 January.
Comments
In case you were wondering, here’s the animal behind each sound in our recent Summer Sounds challenge:
Black Prince (cicada) - Psaltoda plaga
Southern Spotted Cicada - Gelidea torrida
a tree cricket - Oecanthus angustus
Gang-gang Cockatoo - Callocephalon fimbriatum
Common Eastern Froglet - Crinia signifera
a shieldback katydid - Chinnandectes neenan
Congratulations to Toby (boornewild on Instagram) who won a Bush Blitz cap.
Hi is there a way I can set it up to have the sightings added automatically to Backyard Species Discovery with Bush Blitz (Australia) like some of the other projects do?
Thanks for your time and help.
kind regards,
Deb
Hi Deb. As this is a traditional project, observations have to be added manually. We're not aware of any way around this. Thanks for your patience!
Thanks for letting me know, no worries just had a thought that I may have been doing it the hard way, as not really that technologically minded with all the different ins and outs. Really appreciate you letting me know. Thank you.
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