Community scientists unite – the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s 4th annual national Big Backyard BioBlitz is coming up August 1-5.
The NCC’s Coordinator of Conservation Biology in Eastern Ontario, Megan Quinn says all of the observations play a key role in helping to understand Canada’s ecosystem and the information collected is used by real scientists.
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“It’s an event where the public helps us to collect important information by taking pictures and recording observations of any plants, animals, insects and fungi that they see. And the best part is, is that you don’t have to be a scientist or know anything about species identification to be able to participate.”
Quinn says no species is too big or too small – you can snap photos of a blue jay from your back deck, a chipmunk on the way into the office or a moose or a blanding’s turtle during a hike or camping trip.
Nature Conservancy of Canada Bioblitz 2023. (Photo: Dennis Minty)
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“The data that we collect in the BioBlitz really helps to guide conservation scientists like me to plan future protection and restoration efforts across the country. I like to explain by saying that I can’t be everywhere at once, I’m just one person but if I can get 10,000 helpers across the country who are all going out at the same time and looking for species, we can get a really good picture about what’s happening in Canada’s ecosystem.”
Last year, almost 10,000 people uploaded 59,000 observations across Canada including 28,246 in Ontario.
(Photo: Nature Conservancy of Canada)
They ranged from little brown bat, grizzly bear, bighorn sheep, humpback whale, great blue herons to plains bison to tree species, turtles and insects.
There were also almost 2,000 species at risk documented, most notably monarch butterflies and barn swallows along with 2,000 introduced and invasive species.
HummingBird. (Photo: Jordan Myles NatureConservancy of Canada)
Quinn says a bioblitz is a great way for people of all ages to learn more about the ecosystems around them.
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“As a country and as an organization, Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, have made these ambitious goals to protect nature and we really can’t achieve them without the public’s help. And, you know, events like BioBlitz really show how individuals can influence conservation and science knowledge in Canada and really empower people to start looking at their own communities in different ways and to even just learn a little bit more about some of the species that they share their homes with.”
She stresses that you don’t have to have a “nature expert” to be part of the event.
You can sign up as a “newly hatched naturalist” and receive some beginner-friendly tips or, for those more experienced, as an “eagle-eyed expert.”
To participate in the Big Backyard BioBlitz, head to backyardbioblitz.ca to register and learn how to share your data.
It is free and there are opportunities to win prizes.
(Photo: Nature Conservancy of Canada)
