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UPCOMING EVENTS

  • Spreckels Hill December 2024 BioBlitz event
    Spreckels Hill December 2024 BioBlitz event
    Sun, Dec 08
    Location is TBD
    Dec 08, 2024, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
    Location is TBD
    Dec 08, 2024, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
    Location is TBD
    Join BioBlitz Club and Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for our first join event at this site!
  • Naturalist Training Series - On the Wing
    Naturalist Training Series - On the Wing
    Wed, Dec 11
    Interactive Webinar
    Dec 11, 2024, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
    Interactive Webinar
    Dec 11, 2024, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
    Interactive Webinar
    In our 9th webinar we will learn about bird migration!
  • Hellyer County Park Fall 2024 BioBlitz
    Hellyer County Park Fall 2024 BioBlitz
    Sat, Nov 16
    San Jose
    Nov 16, 2024, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
    San Jose, 985 Hellyer Ave, San Jose, CA 95111, USA
    Nov 16, 2024, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
    San Jose, 985 Hellyer Ave, San Jose, CA 95111, USA
    Join BioBlitz Club and Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for a fall BioBlitz at Hellyer Park!
Naturalist Training - Incredible Insects
01:39:12

Naturalist Training - Incredible Insects

Naturalist Training - Incredible Insects In our 8th Naturalist training, talk about the magnificent insects that live around us. Insects are fascinating creatures - they are found in almost every habitat on Earth, they can feed on diverse food resources, and they look indestructible. But are they? During this interactive webinar, we will learn about the intriguing lives of insects: we will discuss different groups of insects and how to identify them. How can you tell if it's a bug or a beetle? What does a lady bug larva look like? What are these cicada molts we find on trees? We will explore techniques to find insects at home or on a hike, and how to document them using iNaturalist. This is part 8 of an ongoing series. Part 1 - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist @ https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Part 2 - A Deeper Dive into Inaturalist @ https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg Part 3: Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants @ https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ Part 4: Nature Interpretation for the Rest of Us @ https://youtu.be/JqvADIulSQA Part 5: Serpentine Grasslands and iNaturalist Projects @ https://youtu.be/FKbxTt08bMA Part 6: Why City Nature Challenge Matters @ https://youtu.be/DYIyLdOmsSM Part 7: Aquatic Macroinvertebrates @ https://youtu.be/CivYOrl5vRE Co-hosts are Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful and BioBlitz Club Presenters are Deb Kramer, Merav Vonshak, Barbara Banfield, and Eddie Dunbar Recording date 8/28/24 == CHAPTERS 4:49 - Incredible Insects Introduction by Merav Vonshak 13:06 - Bees & Wasps by Barbara Banfield 41:01 - Beetles vs True Bugs by Eddie Dunbar 1:06:40 - Questions == RESOURCE LIST Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful: - Website: KeepCoyoteCreekBeautiful.org - Facebook: @CoyoteCreekSJ - Instagram: @CoyoteCreekSJ BioBlitz.club - Website: https://www.bioblitz.club/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bioblitz.club == BOOKS - Field Guide to California Insects, 2 edition, California Natural History Guides, Will, Gross, Rubinoff, and Powell, 2020 - Insects of North America, Princeton Field Guides, Abbott and Abbott, 2023 - Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates: A Guide to North American Species, Stackpole Books, Charney and Eiseman, 2010 == ABOUT BEES, WASPS, & FLIES - How to tell if a pollinator is a bee, wasp or fly slide show https://www.greatsunflower.org/node/1000250 - Black Soldier Fly https://cesanmateo.ucanr.edu/?blogpost=27407&blogasset=107918 - Bumblee look-alikes https://entomology.ces.ncsu.edu/biological-control-information-center/beneficial-look-a-likes/bumblebee-look-a-likes/ - California Bumble Bee Atlas: https://www.cabumblebeeatlas.org/ == iNATURALIST PROJECTS - The fly project - we can add that they also formed a community and they teach people how to ID flies - Insects of the San Francisco Bay Area: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/insects-of-the-san-francisco-bay-area - Flies of the US & Canada: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flies-of-the-us-and-canada - Gall Week September 2024: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2024 == RELEVANT NATURALIST TRAININGS - Aquatic Macroinvertebrates: Learn more about aquatic insects and their larval stages https://youtu.be/CivYOrl5vRE - Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants: Learn more about insects and other organisms found on plants, and what can you do to help at the end of the webinar https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ - A Deeper Dive into iNaturalist: Learn how to document organisms on iNaturalist, and how to improve your observations - https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg - Plant Galls for the Curious Naturalist: Learn more about galls https://youtu.be/7oUAuMlMUEQ
Naturalist Training - Why City Nature Challenge Matters
55:27

Naturalist Training - Why City Nature Challenge Matters

During our 6th installment of our Naturalist Training series, we discuss the City Nature Challenge (CNC), a four-day global iNaturalist event, happening every year on the last weekend of April. Started in 2016, hundreds of cities from around the world come together in a friendly competition to document the most species and observations by the highest number of people. Topics covered help you to: 1. Understand what is the CNC and different ways you can participate. 2. Learn how to host your own event. 3. Gather some tips and tricks on how to find more biodiversity around you. This is part 6 of an ongoing series. Part 1 - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Part 2 - A Deeper Dive into iNaturalist https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg Part 3: Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ Part 4: Nature Interpretation for the Rest of Us https://youtu.be/JqvADIulSQA Part 5: Serpentine Grasslands and iNaturalist Projects https://youtu.be/FKbxTt08bMA Presenters are Merav Vonshak and Deb Kramer == RESOURCE LIST Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful: keepcoyotecreekbeautiful.org BioBlitz Club: BioBlitz.Club iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CalAcademy City Nature Challenge website: https://www.calacademy.org/community-science/city-nature-challenge City Nature Challenge 2024 San Francisco iNaturalist project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-san-francisco-bay-area == GLOBAL CITY NATURE CHALLENGE City Nature Challenge: https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/ Global CNC project (if don’t live in a CNC city, and you’d need to join the project for your observations to count): https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-global-project Two global umbrella projects with all the cities: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-eurasia-africa-oceania https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-north-and-south-america == HOW TO HOST A BIOBLITZ Nerds for Nature, 10 Steps to BioBlitz: https://blog.nerdsfornature.org/post/64452358890/10-steps-to-bioblitz National Geographic, How to Host BioBlitz: https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/NationalGeographicBioBlitzGuide.pdf Recorded 4/17/2024
Naturalist Training - Serpentine Grasslands and iNaturalist Projects
01:29:48

Naturalist Training - Serpentine Grasslands and iNaturalist Projects

During our 5th installment of our Naturalist Training series, we focus on two subjects: 1. Serpentine grasslands Our main topic will be serpentine grasslands and the soil they form on. We will have a guest expert joining us for this section, Paul Heiple, who is a geologist and a plant expert. He will discuss the characteristics of serpentine soil and how only certain plants can grow on it, forming our serpentine grassland habitat that is home to many endemic plants. 2. iNaturalist projects How to create them, how to use them, and why! We will give examples of some of our favorite projects, and hopefully entice you to upgrade the way you use iNaturalist. Also, we will create a project together and add some observations! This is part 5 of an ongoing series. Part 1 - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist can be found at https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Part 2 - A Deeper Dive into Inaturalist can be found at https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg Part 3: Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants can be found at https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ Part 4: Naturalist Training - Nature Interpretation for the Rest of Us can be found at https://youtu.be/JqvADIulSQA Presenters are Merav Vonshak and Paul Heiple == RESOURCE LIST iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org iNaturalist project on serpentine plants of the western US https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/serpentine-plants-of-the-western-united-states Vol. 1 of Ecology, Phytogeography & Physiology Series; "Serpentine and its Vegetation" R. R. Brooks "California Serpentines: Flora, Vegetation, Geology, Soils, and Management Problems" by Arthur R. Krucheberg INATURALIST PROJECTS LISTED IN THE PRESENTATION Amazing Aberrants ARThropod. Arthropods on snow Ask a Lichenologist Backyard Pollinators Bay Area Beach Blobs Coyote Creek Biodiversity Dock Fouling in California Fascinating Fasciation Flies of the US and Canada Found Feathers Funny common names Galls of California Home Compost Exploration Life in cow pats of the world Mystery Oak Leaf Skeletonizer Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Homes + analysis North American Animal Tracks Database Open Space Authority Biodiversity Pacific Newt Roadkill (Main Project) Predators Scatology Serpentine Plants of the Western United States Skulls and Bones Snapshot Cal Coast 2023 The Pot Fouling Project UV fluorescent organisms And a few more worth mentioning - Animal Architecture Microscopy Mimicry Gallery The Butt End Of Nature seeds and fruits U.S. Terrestrial Nature and Plastic WeirdWildWonders Gall Week

VIDEOS AND MEDIA

BLOG

A BIT ABOUT US

Become a citizen scientist and help us document the diversity around us! We explore our local parks through public nature events - BioBlitzes. A BioBlitz is an event where a group of people tries to document as many species as possible in a specific time frame. It's a great way to get to know a place, local animals and plants, and collect real scientific data. 

If this sounds like fun, join us!

Bioblitz.club was founded in 2019 by Merav Vonshak. Merav has a PhD from the Tel Aviv University and has completed her postdoctoral studies at Stanford University. Merav has been organizing citizen science events for the past 10 years and she and her volunteers have documented numerous animals and plants in many events.  Bioblitz.Club brings the latest news, updates, special events, and more to our community of avid naturalists in the Bay Area.

We love nature, pride ourselves on being a fun and collaborative environment, and hope you will join us for an event soon.

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PAST EVENTS
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Jul 27

2019

Coyote Creek BioBlitz

Observations

Observers

22

580

Near the Anderson Reservoir Visitor Center in Coyote valley.  Organized in collaboration with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful

Species

179

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Jun 16

2019

Alum Rock Park BioBlitz

Observations

Observers

19

715

A summer event at one of our favorite locations! Organized in collaboration with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful

Species

266

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May 24

2019

Rancho Cañada Del Oro BioBlitz

Observations

Observers

3

202

In collaboration with Saved By Nature and Open Space Authority

Species

123

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May 4

2019

Little Uvas BioBlitz

Observations

Observers

13

777

In collaboration with Saved By Nature and Open Space Authority

Species

230

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Apr 30

2019

Santa Clara Valley Water District BioBlitz

Observations

Observers

20

191

A special event for Earth Day 2019. Organized in collaboration with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful

Species

98

A BIT OF INSTAGRAM LOVE
Resources

Resources

Click to download the fliers we use as field guides (ask us if you need a file that is not here)

Fall Galls Flier

This flier includes some of the most common Bay Area galls found in the fall. Download, print, and go out searching for galls! 

Spring Galls Flier

This one has the Bay Area common spring galls. Although not as pretty and showy as the fall galls, these are still awesome! 

Bay Area Ant Flier

Learn about some of the common Bay Area ant species, both around your house and yard, and in natural habitats

South Bay Back Yard Birds

What bird species can you find in your back yard? Who is visiting your bird feeder? Get to know our local birds

Bay Area Spring Wildflowers

Get to know some of our local wildflowers using this flier. Go to a park near you, and open your eyes! 

CA Plant and Animal Memory Game

Keep those kids busy while learning some of our local plants and animals - poison oak, turkey vulture, and many others!

South Bay Aquatic Invertebrates

If you enjoy visiting streams, ponds, or any freshwater habitat, try out this guide - snails, dragonflies, beetles, and mites! 

Backyard Arthropods

Who lives inside your home and in your yard? Get to know your neighbor arthropods with our new flier! 

Late Spring Wildflowers

As it gets warmer, spring flowers go into seeds, and make space for the late spring or early  summer flowers

Home: Contact

JOIN THE CLUB

Excited about citizen science? Want to join the club?

Send me a mail pigeon, or you can do what cool kids do and sign up here (don't worry, we will never share your email with anyone) 

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