Join us in the East Bay for a grassroots, smartphone-powered bioblitz to catalogue every living species we can identify at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge!
We'll be blitzing western (Stamm) unit of this two-part refuge, our country's only national wildlife refuge established to protect endangered plants and insects – the Antioch Dunes evening primrose, the Contra Costa wallflower, and the Lange’s metalmark butterfly.
This is all happening on Saturday, July 25, 2015 from 8:30am to 1pm, starting at the Stamm Unit and ending at the Antioch Public library.
You bring your smart phone and tons of enthusiasm. We’ll rally some experts and folks who know the area. Together we’ll make some science!
A Bio-Blitz is an intensive one-day study of biodiversity in a specific location, bringing scientists and volunteer citizen-scientists together. We’ll look for birds, mammals, reptiles, butterflies, insects, spiders, trees, flowers, mushrooms, even slime molds!
People ages 12 and up of all skill levels are welcome! Bring your smart phone for sure. Bonus: camera, binoculars, magnifying glasses, and bug boxes. We’ll enter observations in iNaturalist and join together at the end to find out how many observations we made and how many species we found. Past blitzes in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Mateo have averaged 1000 observations and 200+ species each. Hooray!
Don't have an iNat account yet? No problem! Sign up for an iNaturalist account, then download the app: iPhone, Android.
About the Site
Antioch can be extremely warm in July, even at 9 a.m.! Be sure to bring a hat, sunscreen and a water bottle. We will have some water stations at a few locations. A chemical toilet will also be available on-site.
Directions
From Hwy 4, take the "A St/Lone Tree Way." exit. Head north onto A St. Turn right at Wilbur Ave. Turn left onto Fulton Shipyard Rd. Travel approximately 1/4 of a mile until you see a dirt pullout to your right and a chain-linked fence. There will be a sign identifying the refuge. See it on a Google Map.
Schedule
- 8:30-9:00 am: Intros and background about the refuge, why we are having a bioblitz, what we hope to accomplish with citizen scientists, directions on what to do, and area assignments handed out.
- 9-11:30 am: Blitz!
- 11:30 am-noon: Head over to Antioch Library at 501 W. 18th Street, Antioch, 94509
- noon-1 pm: Light refreshments provided. Download photos to INaturalist (free wifi) and wrap up session.
Brought to you by Nerds for Nature and the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge.
check out this historical occurrence species list for the wildlife refuge and we'll see how our results compare! menos ↑