End of year review
Well its the end of the year. This has been an interesting year all around, and a very exciting year for the county. This project has found numerous first time species for the county in the 8 months so far. Every season there was something new to find, as we all got out and explored this beautiful place we call home. Below are the different categories broken up by higher classification. The brackets are what we have currently, "" are what was at the beginning of this project in April, and the + is the difference
Total species by group
VERTEBRATES
Birds (234) "194" +40
Mammals (48) "38" +10
Amphibians (14) "13" +1
Reptiles (12) "11" +1
Fishes (17) "14" +3
INVERTEBRATES
Insects (549) "368" +181
Arachnids (69) "52" +17
Other (34) "28" +6
Mollusks (30) "22" +8
PLANTS
Plants (1208) "942" +266
Fungi (485) "380" +185
Chromista (1) "1" +0
OTHER
Protozoans (10) "10" +0
TOTAL ADDED SPECIES 714
CURRENT NUMBER OF SPECIES 2714
I believe there are at least 3000 species that call this county home, or pass through it during migration. I know it sounds like a lot but in these last eight months we as a collective have added 714 missing species. So adding another 286 during 2021 should not be impossible. Henry Hagg Lake and the western edge of the county is producing the most new species, so if you can get out there for a few hours.
I want to thank everyone who has participated in this project, and make a few special shout outs. Thank you too @susankirkbride and @philkahler for adding previous county rarities. @insectology thank you for the variety of organisms across the board, and all the county firsts you have found on your adventures. @jonhakim thank you for the rarities you have found while exploring along the border of us and Columbia County. @fernsibley thanks for repeatedly going to Commonwealth lake and showing the diversity that can appear their over the course of a year. Also a special thanks to @jmaughn and @anudibranchmom for their contributions when they traveled up here from California over the years.
