Project Update - July 2022
A few days late, I apologize!
Again, we didn’t have any new Project Members this month. If you know of anyone, please direct them to our page!
July was a busy month, not least because it is peak moth season, and our resident program manager / moth enthusiast spent many hours photographing and cataloguing moths. We also had a mini BioBlitz at Hoffman Forest MetroPark earlier in the month, so were able to record a bunch of different creatures!
The project increased from 5044 to 5846 observations (+802), 1420 to 1508 species (+88), and 142 to 150 observers (+8).
Our number of Research Grade observations increased from 3180 to 3653 (+473). This equates to a Research Grade percentage of 62.49% (down from 63.05%).
In total, there were 797 observations added to the project within July 2022. The observations include 732 insects, 23 plants, 14 amphibians, 9 arachnids, 4 birds, 4 mammals, 2 reptiles, 2 mollusks, 2 fungi, 1 protozoa, and 1 cyanobacteria.
Of these, there were 352 species recorded. Painted Lichen Moth was the most observed species (15 occasions), followed by Ailanthus Webworm Moth (14 occasions), Common Gluphisia Moth and American Lotus Borer Moth (both 13 occasions).
The observations came from 18 observers. The top five were @mikehensley75 (684), @martyndrabik (68), @crosscountrycoach (15), @abragg15 (6), and @htrommer (6). The tally from @mikehensley75 means he is the first person to surpass 3,000 observations within the Erie MetroParks iNaturalist Project. Indeed, the second highest has not yet even reached 1,000 observations!
The top observations of the month include:
Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/125299754
Pearly Wood-Nymph (Eudryas unio) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/127476025
Long-tailed Giant Ichneumonid Wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/127849733
Northern Mole Cricket (Neocurtilla hexadactula) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/126069748
Io Moth (Automeris io) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/125582954
Thanks to all for contributing to the project. We have no scheduled mini BioBlitz in August, though be on the lookout for a pop-up program, as we are trying to find a time/date for one at Castalia Quarry.Hopefully you can join us! Please also look out for our other upcoming programs via https://eriemetroparks.org/programs/
~ Martyn
