From May 1 through October 31, 2022, the JOINPC (Jericho Observing Life in Nature Photo Contest) received 566 entries. They included 266 species and 23 observers from Jericho, 
Underhill, and Cambridge. The final (single) award winner chosen from photos entered during May through October for a Pizza certificate prize from Mountain High Pizza is (read on to see the winner).
There are Four Benefits of "Jericho's Observations in Nature Photo Contest".
1. Build community through friendly competition.
2. Insect observation and the contest can be a fun family activity.
3. Participants can contribute data to the iNaturalist database.
4. JOiNPC competition can raise awareness about issues that affect our natural environment/wildlife and raise awareness of the biodiversity of LIFE in our own backyards.
The selection was first narrowed to these nine.
The winner, chosen to receive a gift certificate from Mountain High Pizza is the Dark Paper Wasp image and post to iNaturalist taken by (userid: Stalemary). Congratulations Mary!
Thanks to all participating in the contest helping us recognize our bond with all living species!
Bernie
Connecting Community with Nature.
Through photography, you can be part of something big: observing our insect, reptile, arachnid, and amphibian neighbors.
Your photos can show the world the beauty of biodiversity, and the value of nature's many life forms. Join your community of nature observers, and win a local prize. Enter your photos in the JOiNPC contest from May 1 through October 31, 2022.
NATURE PHOTO CONTEST
Bernie Paquette & The Jericho Conservation Committee bring you the (JOiNPC) Jericho Observing Life in Nature Photo Contest.
Who: Everyone, especially YOU! (No residency requirements)
What: Photograph (w/phone or camera) any insect, reptile, arachnid, or amphibian in Jericho, Underhill, or Cambridge, Vermont.
When: May 1 through October 31.
Where: Anywhere in Jericho, Underhill, or Cambridge VT.
Prizes: Monthly Prizes or Peoples Choice Awards are Cremee Gift Certificates from Palmer Lane Maple, Jericho Country Store, and there will be a grand prize of a gift certificate from Mountain High Pizza Pie.
No photography skills are required. The observation is the important part, not the quality of the photo. SEE THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW.
Total Entries throughout the contest: 566 observations, 263 species, and 23 observers from Jericho, Cambridge, and Underhill.
There are Four Benefits of "Jericho's Observations in Nature Photo Contest".
1. Build community through friendly competition.
2. Insect observation and the contest can be a fun family activity.
3. Participants can contribute data to the iNaturalist database.
4. JOiNPC competition can raise awareness about issues that affect our natural environment/wildlife and raise awareness of the biodiversity of LIFE in our own backyards.
Observing insects starts with (for some of us) lack of knowledge, apathy, and perhaps even disgust slowly moves to curiosity, and interest, followed by more patient and closer observation, realizing awe and amazement, motivating research and reading books about particular insect species, producing jaw-dropping enlightenment about diverse lifestyles, evolutionary adaptations, followed by intense hours of insect observations (in my case in our backyard), giving witness to art in nature, insect mating rituals and truly bizarre sex, predation abound, flight mishaps - crash landings, wind-blown topples, intentional or not run into each other events, Arial events like fighter jets, fall downs, and birthing (I have a photo of an insect giving birth).
Observe to learn, be intrigued, amazed, and entertained. Observe the "LIFE" that abounds as close as just outside your door. Discover and sense the LIFE of other fellow creatures.
See current entries in the contest at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/joinpc-jericho-observing-life-in-nature-photo-contest?tab=observations
Instructions:
1. Photograph (using your phone or camera or another device) any insect (bees, flies, beetles, butterflies, etc) reptile, arachnids (spiders), and amphibians in Jericho, VT.
3. Then on iNaturalist, go to Projects, search for Joinpc, select it, then select “yes I want to join this project”.
4. Load your observation photos onto iNaturalist. (They will automatically show up on the JOiNPC project page.)
Optional: Once you have your account set up you may want to visit your account settings, then select content and display, then page down to view your licensing choices. You can select "learn what these licenses mean" to help you decide which to choose. The key is that some of the licenses are more accommodating for scientists than others.
Contact Bernie with questions or if you need further help with iNaturalist.
Meet and get to know your pollinator and other insect backyard neighbors. I have walked 100 miles in our 1-acre backyard, and still, surprises await me every day. Explore species of life in your yard, wonders await you.
Bernie
Announced winners to date:
There were 62 entries in May.
There were 118 entries in June
There were 208 photo entries for July, in the Jericho Observing Life in Nature Photo Contest.
The observations chosen for a July Cremee award are:
There were 139 photo entries for August, in the Jericho Observing Life in Nature Photo Contest. See a list of winners and a link to their photos below.
May 62 + June 118 + July 208 + Aug 139 = 527 entries.
Sandywilmot(userid) / Underhill: Sharptail bee (Genus Coelioxys) - possibly a cuckoo leafcutter bee. A queen ant kidnapper bee (Aphilanthops frigidus).
Wesleymiles(userid) / Underhill: Common Stonefly(Family Perliade).
Jeanrimbaud(userid) / Underhill: Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). Deekay's Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi).
Stalemary(userid) / Jericho: Silver-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene), Black Swallowtail (Papiliopolyxenes), and Scudder's Bush Katydids (Genus Scudderia).
To learn more about each of these fine species, once you reach the posting, click again on the name of the species at the top of the page.
How iNatuarlist works
"Observations on iNaturalist record species in space and time. To help confirm the identity of the species posted, images or sound files are uploaded, and species recognition software provides identification suggestions. However, whether a name is provided by the observer or not, a verification process is in place that crowdsources identifications from other iNaturalist users. Observations become ‘research grade’ when they are at the genus level or finer, are confirmed by two or more users (which includes an initial identification suggested by the observer), two thirds or more of the identifiers are in agreement, there are no active flags, and no contradicting data quality assessments. As of 17 March 2020, there were 20 273 874 research-grade observations (iNaturalist 2020). Research grade observations are then aggregated on other databases such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (iNaturalist 2020)." Taken from https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjb-2021-0160
The photos below were taken in our Jericho backyard.
Genus Crambus
We did not realize we have an (insect) airport in our backyard.
One of these is a bumble bee and one is a fly (a bumble bee mimic). 
What will YOU observe in your backyard?
what about chipmunks, squirrels or other four legged wild animal
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these wonderful photos! Don’t stop!
ReplyDelete