Sunfish Lake Park's Journal

March 27, 2022

Family Nature Exploration Joins City Nature Challenge 2022

Come join us at the Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center at Sunfish Lake Park on Saturday, April 30th, 2022 for a Family Nature Exploration event. The Family Nature Exploration Saturday Series are free and run from 10-11 a.m. No registration is needed, just show up to explore nature! On this Saturday we will celebrate nature through participation in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge.

City Nature Challenge is an international bio-blitz type of event where cities around the world document the wonder of nature in our urban areas in a fun competition to see who can record the most observations and the most species over a four day period of time. Although you can contribute observations to iNaturalist at any time, The Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center will have a volunteer available on Saturday, April 30th from 10 - 11 a.m. to assist with using the iNaturalist app and answer any questions that you might have. Observations will then be entered into the City Nature Challenge 2022: Minneapolis-St. Paul as well as the Sunfish Lake Park project on iNaturalist.

To participate, you will need to bring either a smartphone with a camera or a digital camera. It would be helpful to set up an iNaturalist account and load the app on your phone before arriving. It’s easy and free and available in app stores. No smartphone, no computer? No problem. You can contribute your photos to the SMINC iNaturalist account and we can upload them for you.

Be sure to dress for the weather and wear sunscreen and insect repellant. The Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center has restroom facilities and a drinking fountain as well as interpretive exhibits and a place to rest and relax. Come for as little or as long as you want.

Hope to see you on April 30th!

Posted on March 27, 2022 03:17 PM by sminc sminc | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 14, 2021

Sunfish Lake Park Mammal Survey

My name is Grace Lehinger-Winden, and I am a senior at the University of Minnesota studying Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology with an emphasis on Wildlife Biology. During the summer of 2021, I had the opportunity to intern with the Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center located in Sunfish Lake Park. From May-August 2021 I conducted a mammal species diversity survey within Sunfish Lake Park, during which I documented many individuals across 13 different species of mammal. I utilized set track plates and camera traps in order to identify present species. Some photos taken during this survey are available in this project, with many more (in addition to track prints) soon to be displayed within Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center and used in their educational curriculum.

If you would like to view photos from this survey, simply filter the observation results in the Sunfish Lake Park Project by my ID: igplehinger.

The report is available for viewing at: https://sminc-lake-elmo.org/natural-science-projects/

Posted on September 14, 2021 03:58 PM by sminc sminc | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 9, 2019

City Nature Challenge 2019

Come join us at the Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center at Sunfish Lake Park on April 27th, 2019 to celebrate nature and participate in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge. The City Nature Challenge is an international bio-blitz type of event where cities around the world document the wonder of nature in our urban areas in a fun competition to see who can record the most observations and the most species over a three day period of time.

The Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center will be participating on Saturday, April 27th and documenting observations in Sunfish Lake Park. Observations will then be entered into the City Nature Challenge 2019: Minneapolis/St. Paul as well as the Sunfish Lake Park project on iNaturalist.

To participate, you will need to bring either a smartphone with a camera or a digital camera. It would be helpful to set up an iNaturalist account and load the app on your phone before arriving. It’s easy and free and available in app stores. If you don’t however, that’s OK. Volunteer assistance will be available between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to help you set up an account and show you how to use the app or upload the photos from a computer at home. No computer? No problem. You can contribute your photos to the SMINC iNaturalist account and we can upload them for you.

Be sure to dress for the weather and wear sunscreen and insect repellant. The Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center has restroom facilities and a drinking fountain as well as interpretive exhibits and a place to rest and relax. Come for as little or as long as you want.

Hope to see you on April 27th!

Posted on April 9, 2019 02:40 PM by sminc sminc | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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