June Mini Challenges!
This year, June will have THREE mini challenges in addition to having a June observation and species finder champion.
FERN FORAY - all month
The NYC EcoFlora Project has a challenge every month and this year, our Summer of Nature project is going to join in! Their June EcoQuest is "Fern Foray" and its goal is to "help document as many ferns growing wild in NYC as possible by June 30. The New York City EcoFlora project seeks to enhance the ecological literacy of all New Yorkers and to compile new and original data on the City’s flora and ecological dynamics."
Like the City Nature Challenge, as long as you're standing in NYC while you make fern observations, you'll be contributing to BOTH of these projects. At the end of June, we'll announce in our project who at Macaulay found the most ferns!
INVASIVE SPECIES AWARENESS WEEK - June 3-9
June 3-9 is New York's Invasive Species Awareness Week. For our Macaulay mini-challenge, we'll be looking for observations of invasive species. If you're trying to figure out what to observe, check out this list of invasive species in New York or send me a message. I will happily talk your ear off about the invasive species we have around here. Observations need to be made (and uploaded) between 6/3 and 6/9 and we'll announce a winner for most observations and most species! If you're looking for more projects to join, Long Island Invasive Species Management Area (LIISMA) is holding a NYC-Long Island BioBlitz to document both invasive species and the native species growing with them (so everything LOL). The Long Island Invasive Species BioBlitz is running from now until 6/9.
We'll be following the USDA's definition: an invasive species is a non-native species in a region that is causing or is likely to cause environmental, economic, or human harm. Not everything introduced to an area will become invasive, and figuring out what species will have this type of impact is an interesting scientific question. Often invasive species have high reproductive output and the ability to disperse widely. For more info about NY Invasive Species Awareness Week, visit the NY Invasive Species Information page or the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation page.
POLLINATOR WEEK - June 17-23
From June 17 until June 23, see how many observations you can make of insects interacting with flowers. We'll accept any observations with an insect (or other animal pollinator) and a flower in them. This might end up including things that aren't actually involved in pollination, but we'll still accept them! For some background on pollinator week, visit: https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator-week
And don't forget! We will also be naming a top observer and species finder for June! There are so many ways to be a nature champion!
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