Walker Nature Center
A LOOK INSIDE • Calendar 4 • Kids’ Corner 6 • Shrub Sale 7 • Halloween House 8
BRANCHING OUT
Nature Notes Ready, Set, Go! Reston’s BioBlitz Makes History SEPTEMBER By Sharon Gurtz
By Susan Sims
• • • •
Northern Watersnake and Copperhead young are born. Fall colors appear on Sumac and Black Gum trees. Goldenrods bloom. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds migrate to Central America.
OCTOBER • • • •
Fall warbler migration is underway. Mushrooms are plentiful. Asters bloom. Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows return for winter.
NOVEMBER • • • •
Raccoons and Red Fox grow winter coats. Native Witch Hazel blooms. Deer rut peaks. Chipmunks and squirrels gather nuts for winter.
What happens when 24 teams of scientists, volunteers, subject matter experts, and naturalists have 24 hours to count every species in a geographic area? No leaf goes unturned, that’s what! On Saturday, June 2, 2018, 95 dedicated volunteers and staff ventured far and wide, across Reston’s natural areas documenting as many plants and animals as possible in Reston’s first BioBlitz.
From the wetlands teeming with life along Sunrise Valley Drive to the pollinator meadows and gardens dappling the easements along Reston Parkway, volunteers and staff searched 37 natural areas, identifying 614 species in a single day!
So, What is a BioBlitz?
It’s not a funky dance or a defensive football play. It’s an intense period of biological surveying, usually 24 hours, over a designated area to record as many species as possible. For many of the nature enthusiasts who participated in this citizen science event, the BioBlitz was way more fun than a dance fad or a ball game and good exercise, too! Observations from the blitz were documented with photos in the Reston BioBlitz 2018 project in a handy app called iNaturalist, connecting users with subject matter experts around the globe who aided in the identification of species. Over 140 people acted as identifiers for the project.
The Reston BioBlitz was a recommendation from the 2017 Reston Annual State of the Environment Report (RASER). Reston is home to 1,300 acres of open space, which hosts a large variety of plants and animals. RASER encouraged the documentation of Reston’s biodiversity to improve baseline data. What’s the importance of such an endeavor? Knowing what species are or are not present will help Reston Association manage Reston’s open space and contribute to future conservation action and planning. Overall, our “blitzers” posted 1,460 observations, including 330 types of plants, 119 insects, 22 fish and 2 protozoans—one with a peculiar and less than appealing common name of Dog Vomit Slime Mold.
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Fall 18 Volume Twenty