Stuck at home with the family, looking for something fun and educational for everyone to do? This 'Socially Distant BioBlitz" is for you! A BIOBLITZ IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD! To help thwart the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of events are being cancelled, schools are closed, and large groups are a thing of the past. What is a family to do? Well, there is no better time to explore the flora and fauna in your own backyard. All day Sunday, April 5th, you can contribute observations from your home, your favorite trail, a park, or anywhere you can safely adhere to the “social distancing” protocols that are in place.

A BioBlitz is a way of documenting the biodiversity of a property, town, or region by recording all of the species of plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms within a designated location and time period (In this case, 24 hours). It could be a meal moth in your panty, the amphibians calling across the road, the spiders in your house or under the gutters, or the weeds in the garden. Any living organism you find. There is no time commitment - upload 1 photo or 100, anytime of day or night Sunday, April 5th. And you don't need to be able to identify the plants or animals you find. If you can find a plant or wild critter and take a picture of it you can participate as a BioBlitz observer! You do need a smartphone or camera, and an iNaturalist account to participate.

Join us for a free, self-paced day of natural exploration that adheres to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. This BioBlitz is co-sponsored by Antioch University New England

iNaturalist Instructions:

In order for your observations to be included in the Socially Distant BioBlitz, you'll need to take the following steps. Experienced iNaturalist users can skip to Step 3.

1. Log In or Sign Up for iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.org).

2. Download the iNaturalist App to your Smartphone (recommended) App for iOS (Apple products) or App for Android, or learn how to upload your camera photos to the iNaturalist website (www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started#web).

3. Email your iNaturalist username to event coordinators Steven Lamonde (slamonde@antioch.edu) and Sara Lobdell (slobdell@antioch.edu). This will guarantee we add your name to the project filter, which looks for observations from specific iNaturalist users (you!).

4. Open the Socially Distant BioBlitz iNaturalist project page. www.inaturalist.org/projects/socially-distant-bioblitz-4-5-2020

5. Click on the JOIN Button in the upper right of the project page so you can easily navigate back to the project from your iNaturalist home page. Note, this step does not replace Step 3!

6. Take photos and upload them to iNaturalist! The project will update in live time as observation are submitted the day of the event, so check in regularly to track our progress.

Here are some iNaturalist resources you may find helpful:

Getting Started with iNaturalist

iNaturalist Video Tutorials