Waterberg Academy's Journal

Waterberg Academy iNaturalist project: Update after week 2

Fourteen days into the project! Things are calming down a bit after the initial novelty and excitement.
There are now 276 observations of 91 species, and the number of observers is unchanged at 36. This is an increase of only 39 observations, but 23 species.

The five most active observers (within the school grounds) are:
• Catypid_WA_Gr_7 (34 observations)
• Wbakobus (32 observations)
• David2748 (27 observations; David Rorich)
• Daniel_Eagar_WA_Gr6 (20 observations)
• Mauriza_Kruger_wa_Gr8 (17 observations)

Plants are still the most commonly photographed organisms (59 species) followed by insects (18 species) and birds (6 species). Those of you trying to photograph birds face a challenge as often you cannot get up close, and zooming in or cropping the pictures can result in a pixelated or blurry image, but well done for trying – keep it up!

Photos of the week (based on my judgment alone):
The common dandelion, Taraxacum (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99965029 ) by David2748. I lovely clear close up of this common weed. You are learning to use your camera well and possibly crop your pictures too.
 
This picture of a common locust by muuri_mutshekwa_wa_gr11 is great! (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99520619). If you look at it on a computer and zoom in you can see amazing details of the eyes and markings Remember, try and crop the pictures so the main subject of the picture is emphasised.

Finally, mauriza_kruger_wa_gr8’s series of three pictures of a dwarf geckgo is wonderful, and again, cropping it would have increased the visual impact (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99445296 )

Keep it up everyone! In week two there is a definite improvement in the pictures, and I get the feeling some of you are starting to see the smaller, less conspicuous things around us - Mosquitos, flies etc. However… No scorpions yet?

Prof. Nigel Barker

One week to go to document the life, big and small, you see around you at school.

There are now 346 observations of 117 species. This is a considerable jump since last week’s analysis.
The five most active observers (within the school grounds) are:

• David2748 (51 observations; David Rorich)
• Catypid_WA_Gr_7 (47 observations)
• Mauriza_Kruger_wa_Gr8 (34 observations)
• Wbakobus (32 observations)
• Daniel_Eagar_WA_Gr6 (20 observations)

Plants are still the most commonly photographed organisms (65 species) followed by insects (a big jump to 30 species) and birds (10 species). I don’t know if it has rained there much, but there seems to be a lot of new and interesting observations, especially of insects and vertebrates, especially reptiles.
Photos of the week (based on my judgment alone):

The best picture this week, without doubt was of a long spinneret spider by mauriza_kruger_wa_gr8 (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/168046832 ). Amazing use of her phone camera’s macro lens capabilities.

One the insect front, this close up of a fly by andre368 is also worthy of mention (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100755133 )

And as a plant scientist I have to include a plant picture. This one of Dicerocaryum senecioides by david2748 is worthy of some comment (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100847600 ). While not photographed by david2748, plants in this genus have interesting fruit – flattened capsules with 2 long spines pointing upwards… just waiting for a soft hoof or foot to stick into. They get dispersed this way, and when the animal (or human…) removes them, they can then split and shed seed which germinates. This is a seed dispersal system (or “syndrome”) called podochory ( "podo" = Greek for foot and "chory" for dispersal). No wonder the common name is “Devil’s thorn”… and yes, they are relatives of the famous Devil’s Thorn Haragophytum which is used for pain relief medication (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpagophytum ).

Keep it up everyone! The last week of action looms! Lets see how many more observations and species you can capture in the coming week.

Prof. Nigel Barker