Fall 2021 Master Gardener BioBlitz's Boletim

The weather looks like it will be wonderful, albeit warm, for the Fall Garden BioBlitz. A couple of tips:

1) Be mindful of the sun and the heat. Make sure to hydrate!

2) Fall bird migrations have brought the warblers to the garden! If you are able to 'stake out' a bird feeder for these yellowed-gems, you may see some birds that were not present in the spring and summer garden bioblitzes.

3) Fall moths are also out! Since moths like to fly at night, they are often easiest to find by turning on a porch light . . . and waiting for them to come to you, in the evening. If your house or apartment is painted a light color, you will be more likely to get night-flying moths coming to you. Moths like a porch light or street light, near a lighter-colored building. In fact, some of my best mothing has been done at gas stations and rest stops, at night.

4) If you happen to have access to fall-blooming Douglas Aster or goldenrod, those plants reliably attract a wide array of insects, that are eager to eat their final provisions of nectar and pollen, before they go into diapause (insect hibernation).

I'm so excited to see what you will find! I'll be monitoring our project page, all day. If you have any questions, problems, please reach out to me by commenting on this thread and/or by email (gail.langellotto@oregonstate.edu).

~Gail

Thank you for signing up to participate in our Fall Garden BioBlitz. The weather looks like it may be perfect: low 80s, low wind, and low chance of rain!

Those of you who participated in our Spring and/or Summer BioBlitzes might notice a few things that are different with a Fall BioBlitz. First, the number of species that you are able to document might decrease. This is because a large part of garden biodiversity is in the insects, and many insects will have already moved into inactive life stages or into diapause (insect hibernation). Second, the types of species that you encounter are likely to be different than what you saw in the Spring and the Summer. Birds are starting to return to feeders. Late season bees are busy gathering nectar and pollen. Late season nectar sources, such as goldenrod and Douglas Aster, are showing off in glorious, flowered fashion. As the rains have started to fall, fungi may be more noticeable in the lawn or on your trees and other plants.

Remember that iNaturalist is focused on documenting wild plants, fungi, and animals. You can absolutely photograph and upload observations of cultivated plants. However, these will be marked as 'cultivated', to better help researchers who use iNaturalist understand local patterns of biodiversity.

I look forward to seeing your observations on Saturday! I hope that you will all have fun, learning more about the biodiversity in your garden.

~Gail