School is out, Science is IN! Are you curious about the web of life in your town or city, in your park, pond, trails, or backyard? Do you want to find out more about bees, birds, insects, amphibians, plants, and other wildlife you observe? Do you want to contribute to citizen science by sharing photos of the wildlife you observe? If so, read below, about the citizen science programs - easy to use online websites.
As much as I am interested in knowing my Jericho community members, I am curious about the non-human life, the web of life in the backyard, as well as at the pond, Mobbs trails, even along the dirt 
roads of the town. As I walk about or even as I sit outdoors an enormous quantity of often, unseen, unnoticed, unheard species of life go about their daily lives. I wish to become acquainted or at least aware of more of them.
Do you share this desire?
Want to get help identifying an organism (plant, bird, insect, mammal...) that you have come across?
Want to know more about the non-human life you see about you?
Want to contribute to science and conservation?
Want to record your bird, insect, or another animal sighting?
Here are a few tools available online to help you. Beginner to expert welcome.
iNaturalist or iNaturalist of Vermont is an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature. Anyone can enter a photo of any living thing - any species even if you do not know the identification. Knowledgeable people will review and help ID photos of species posted. Anyone can view the data by location (ex. Jericho) and or by species.
eBird collects and reports bird sightings including location and time. The data is used by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and others to document the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance. Anyone can enter and view the data. Photos are optional.
eButterfly is an international, data-driven project dedicated to butterfly biodiversity, conservation, and education. An online checklist and photo storage program. Help track butterflies.
Vermont Center for Ecostudies advances the conservation of wildlife across the Americas through research, monitoring, and citizen engagement. See their Become a citizen scientist page to choose the right science project for you (to volunteer or participate), including Wild Bee Survey, iNaturalist, e-Butterfly, Vermont e-Bird, Vermont vernal pool monitoring and mapping project, Loon watch and Loon conservation project, Eastern Whip-poor-will project, Vermont forest bird monitoring, Vermont breeding bird survey, and the Phoenix project.
Vermont Atlas of Life is a library of knowledge of Vermont's animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms - an online, real-time resource with maps, photographs, and data for anyone to use.
Vermont Wild Bee Survey (Vermont Center for EcoStudies - Vermont Atlas of Life.)
Bumble Bee Watch (from the Xerces Society)
E.O. Wilson's Half-Earth Project
This spring I have seen, in the backyard, an indigo bunting - a sparrow-sized bird, with a conical bill, of striking bright blue far surpassing the blue of a bluebird; orioles more orange than the oranges they were feeding at;
Warblers including Cape May warbler with distinctive chestnut cheek patch and yellow collar;
Tricolored bumblebees - yellow-orange and black upon the early spring blossoms of honeyberry, flowering quince, and dandelions. And of course many other birds, butterflies, moths,
Chipmunks, Squirrels, and other life forms I recognize.
However, the unknown far outweighs what I can identify by name. Many more life forms are at my feet or in my range of senses, completely unknown to me though I share common ground with them.
Call yourself an interested neighbor, a curious student of life, or even a citizen scientist. We are surrounded by life perhaps beyond our comprehension, surely beyond our knowledge.
Why not observe, explore, and learn about the species in the yard, parks, trails, of Jericho, Vermont? Perhaps even take a photo of what you see to share with others, and to get help identifying what unknowns you live with.
A citizen scientist, to me, is merely an extension of a good neighbor, getting to know who or what is in the neighborhood. What better place is there to start than in your own backyard? In addition, there is the additional reward that focused quiet attention provides: the slow stillness and solitude of absorbing the images of new discoveries of life.
(Citizen Science is a collaboration between scientists and volunteers to expand opportunities for data collection and to provide access to scientific information to community members. This enables participants to make a direct contribution to research, increase their scientific understanding, and learn more about environmental issues. Opportunities for personally transformative experiences abound. ~Google)
Meet your neighbors - what species do you see? Will you share your findings with us all? Shall we catalog the community of Jericho for all to get to know?
Stop Look, and Listen - and share a photo and or text of what you see. Let's take inventory and learn more about Jericho's living resources. Discover the Jericho web of life!
Note that there are 385 known bird species and 58 mammal species inhabiting Vermont and the insect diversity may approach 22,000 species according to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. We have scant knowledge of their (pollinators and others) distribution or population trends.
Start observing and cataloging today!
Match a face with a name.
Simply enter a photo of any species on iNaturalist. Sign up online, log in, select the green upload box, upload your species photo, type in the name of the species if you know it, the location you sighted it, and the date sighted, then select "submit observation".
Getting to know Jericho, and liking what I observe!
Bernie
Warblers including Cape May warbler with distinctive chestnut cheek patch and yellow collar;
Tricolored bumblebees - yellow-orange and black upon the early spring blossoms of honeyberry, flowering quince, and dandelions. And of course many other birds, butterflies, moths,
Chipmunks, Squirrels, and other life forms I recognize.
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| Meet your neighbor's Eye to Eye. |
However, the unknown far outweighs what I can identify by name. Many more life forms are at my feet or in my range of senses, completely unknown to me though I share common ground with them.
Who are these near neighbors of ours? What are their names? What do they look like? Where do they nest, what do they eat, what anomalies among their species might I notice? What are some of the many benefits they unwittingly provide us? These are some questions we might ask ourselves when we are aware of the web of life in our yards, in our community.
Call yourself an interested neighbor, a curious student of life, or even a citizen scientist. We are surrounded by life perhaps beyond our comprehension, surely beyond our knowledge.
Why not observe, explore, and learn about the species in the yard, parks, trails, of Jericho, Vermont? Perhaps even take a photo of what you see to share with others, and to get help identifying what unknowns you live with.
A citizen scientist, to me, is merely an extension of a good neighbor, getting to know who or what is in the neighborhood. What better place is there to start than in your own backyard? In addition, there is the additional reward that focused quiet attention provides: the slow stillness and solitude of absorbing the images of new discoveries of life.
(Citizen Science is a collaboration between scientists and volunteers to expand opportunities for data collection and to provide access to scientific information to community members. This enables participants to make a direct contribution to research, increase their scientific understanding, and learn more about environmental issues. Opportunities for personally transformative experiences abound. ~Google)
Meet your neighbors - what species do you see? Will you share your findings with us all? Shall we catalog the community of Jericho for all to get to know?
Stop Look, and Listen - and share a photo and or text of what you see. Let's take inventory and learn more about Jericho's living resources. Discover the Jericho web of life!
Note that there are 385 known bird species and 58 mammal species inhabiting Vermont and the insect diversity may approach 22,000 species according to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. We have scant knowledge of their (pollinators and others) distribution or population trends.
Start observing and cataloging today!
Match a face with a name.
Simply enter a photo of any species on iNaturalist. Sign up online, log in, select the green upload box, upload your species photo, type in the name of the species if you know it, the location you sighted it, and the date sighted, then select "submit observation".
Getting to know Jericho, and liking what I observe!
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| Moth White-spotted Anania funebris often mistaken for a butterfly. Its larva feeds on goldenrods.  Yellow-banded bumblebee, a threatened species (Bombus terricola) that I viewed in 2016 in South Burlington, VT. |
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| Grapevine Epimenis Psychomorpha epimenis Drury A woodland day flier that is often mistaken for a butterfly. I viewed this one in S.B. Vt in May 2016. |
FPF Posting
School is out Science is IN! Are you curious about the web of life in Jericho - at the pond, on the trails, in your backyard? Want to find out more about the bees, birds, insects, amphibians, plants, and other wildlife you observe? Want to contribute to citizen science by sharing your observations?
Read about the various citizen science programs - easy-to-use websites. See a listing of sites specifically for bees, or for birds, or for butterflies, or for any wildlife. Read more on my blog posting @ https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2019/05/jericho-citizen-scientist.html
We don't need to look to the skies for undiscovered or new life. We don't need to look farther than our own town to view unappreciated yet fascinating life of all kinds.
Explore Jericho's Nature where life abounds all around us.
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