Inaugural KBS BioBlitz draws naturalists of all ages

W.K. Kellogg Biological Station students, faculty and staff joined members of our local community for a day of exploring the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary at the first-ever public BioBlitz event.

Held over two sessions on Saturday, June 17, the BioBlitz included teams searching for trees, aquatic insects, prairie birds, bees, woodland plants, snakes and turtles, and more. Participants snapped photos of organisms they found and entered their observations into the iNaturalist app. The citizen-scientists were of all ages, with children as young as 3 years old participating.

Results

A list of entries into the KBS BioBlitz 2023 project on iNaturalist documents more than 700 observations of some 318 species on that day, from trees to turtles to Trumpeter Swans and beyond.

Though KBS has conducted BioBlitz activities in the past, earlier events were limited to students, faculty and staff at KBS. The 2023 BioBlitz was the first to invite members of the community to participate.

Read some reflections on the BioBlitz event from KBS Ph.D. students Nasser Mohammed and Corinn Rutkoski.

What is a BioBlitz?

A BioBlitz is a collective, community-science effort to record as many species as possible within a designated location and time period. The goals of the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary BioBlitz were to:

• Foster an appreciation for biodiversity with the public through hands-on exploration and community science.
• Provide valuable baseline data on the distribution of species at the Bird Sanctuary, aiding KBS conservation efforts.
• Highlight the diversity and value of the wildlife that live at or visit the Sanctuary.

Organizers hope to make the BioBlitz an annual event. Stay tuned for updates, and join us next summer!