Diario de joemdo

Hoping to add more to this journal eventually... for now just including a bit of info about my observations from a bioblitz organized by Dr. Fletcher and park biologist Trudy Ferraro.

Blacklights set up
1- On bathroom building, one LED blacklight
2- Sheet facing NW, on NW side of roundabout garden area, all three lights on NW side of sheet
3- Sheet facing NW/SE on NE side of roundabout garden area. I took this one down to add more lights to another sheet
4- Small sheet facing east and west in first area that opens up on the main trail after it goes east and then north
5- Brought the sheet from #3 above to have more lights but it was too late in the night and didn't see anything really show up

Blacklighting observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-06&order=asc&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&user_id=joemdo

Also spread some sugar bait made of overrippened bananas and molasses but really only saw one moth (a zale moth) and some ants.

More details:
Weather- https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/fl/miami/KMIA/date/2024-4-6
Temps around 62 at the lowest, winds mostly below 3 knots, very little moonlight.

Arrived at Dagny Johnson around 1:30AM and was rushing to get some blacklights running...
I set up a single light at the bathroom down the trail from the archway just to get something going and have something to check on after putting up a couple sheets.

I had the first sheet up at 1:49, the second at 2:09 and also spread some sugar bait around to see if any moths would come to that. I then headed back to the bathroom light to see how it was doing. There were already several large moths so I figured it was going to be a good night! I ended up setting up a third sheet (fourth light set up) where the trail opens up to the north and got two moths almost instantly that I was familiar with but hadn't ever seen myself. I decided to pull down one of the sheets from the hammock in order to have a bigger sheet and more lights in the open area but then ended up taking a while to get to it... I was too busy taking pictures of moths!

Hi everyone!

We are just four days away from the beginning of the 2024 City Nature Challenge! With the CNC right around the corner, we wanted to make sure everyone is aware of a few resources that may be particularly helpful.

CNCSOFLO website:
https://www.cncsoflo.com/
Check the site out for events during the CNC weekend.
If you are planning on hosting an event, make sure to register your event so we can include it on the site!

iNaturalist documents:
Why iNaturalist?- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s9JPUY6oZZq_iWyH-xE6ZMyTaxazjPqm/view?usp=drive_link
Best practices & things to avoid- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-uzRKVVu4qfxU2j3WM9y_fibd8B756Pb/view?usp=sharing
How to upload and use iNaturalist- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R25YIzmZvO0V48Sa7_ycgcE4b03Lj8K3/view?usp=drive_link
Research Grade, Needs ID, Casual Grade explained- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RcOcIleKdAuwYnePPF4FmsF-cB0pTSyF/view?usp=drive_link
iNat extras (cool features newer users may not be familiar with- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YQ5-X9Q7UFS4baukgAVqLW1KC-Mai-BI/view?usp=drive_link

South Florida Lawn Weeds Guide:
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/9022
Did you know lawn weeds are one of the easiest examples of biodiversity to observe just about anywhere you go? This guide includes the most common lawn weeds found in South Florida, loosely in order from most common & widely distributed to least common. While photographing lawn weeds, keep an eye out for pollinators and other little critters that use them as habitat!

Community service
Do you know any students in need of community service hours? You can contact me at joemdo.inaturalist@gmail.com with the student's username and I will provide community service hours equal to 1 hour for every 10 observations posted during the City Nature Challenge. The observations need to be either Needs ID or Research Grade to count. For more info, check out the following document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FXYGWJ6l2OuAnESoOv-RfW8Bwk7KIQR6/view?usp=drive_link

Thanks for reading and happy iNatting!
-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO Team

Hi everyone,

Hope you have been out documenting and enjoying South Florida's biodiversity! Today is the last day to capture observations. Remember you can find biodiversity just about everywhere. Check the lawn weeds in the parking lot of your workplace, your porch lights after dark for bugs or maybe head to a local nature preserve to find some species you haven't documented yet! Also remember we have until next Sunday, May 5th, to actually upload our observations to iNaturalist. This is also considered the identification period. I have taken well over a thousand observations but only uploaded my first one in order to avoid spending time processing my images and uploading!

So what have you seen so far? Have you run into any cool observations posted by others? Remember you can "fave" an observation so it's easier for others to look at the most interesting observations! Here are the two observations with the most faves so far:

Scarlet kingsnake found by @kwalkeriv in Everglades National Park: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/210021712

A pair of mating horseshoe crabs found by @elinetsky at the Blue Heron Bridge:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/210021712

Keep up the great work and stay tuned for an update on how we are doing. Keep those observations coming!