היומן של ncari_observation_team

Hi All!

As you may have noticed, we've already had some inverts out and about this year: bumblebees, hoverflies and even a butterfly have already been spotted! Keep your eyes peeled as the days start getting longer and warmer. We have a special interest in keeping tabs on those early season pollinators and other inverts, and on finding out what plants they are using in late winter/early spring.

Spring got its official start this week, though we have been seeing butterflies, flower flies, bumblebees, blueberry bees and other spring visitors for a few weeks now! We are so excited to see what new invert species we will find this year and appreciate the help of anyone willing to get out there and make some observations:)

This week we are excited to participate in the Backyard Bumble Bee Count! We have been documenting bees and floral preferences since spring of this year, so we are excited for this Bumble Bee Bioblitz:) Check out and join this cool project to see observations from all over the country and add your own. So far we have 4 species documented on site at the Aquarium, so we are hoping for a 5th sometime soon (fingers crossed!)

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/backyard-bumble-bee-count

We are so excited about the inverts we are starting to see moving around...including some Cloudless Sulphur and American Lady butterflies. This year we are really focusing efforts on the pollinators that are using our property for habitat and resources. We've already seen a couple of our solitary spring emergence bees buzzing around on our wonderful lawn "weeds,' like henbits and clovers, so we encourage everyone to get out there and see what you can find. By the end of March, the Sassafras, Shadbush, and Chokecherries will be blooming in our Pollinator Garden and Maritime Forest- so those are great places to start!

I am really hoping we can increase the sightings of the pollinators that are only out for a short time in the spring. Since most of our observations are in summer, these guys (Elfins, Holly Azures, Blueberry Bees) are often missed. Thanks so much for helping us to collect this data!!