Elmer W. Oliver BioBlitz 2017 Pre-game plans

Well tomorrow I will be embarking on another BioBlitz this time it is a Mini Bioblitz and this time I am coming up with a new game plan. I am going to step up my game this year and I am going to get out the big guns out on the field. I will have my net with me but when I was on Facebook one of my friends said that I could use a small trowl and scoop up leaf litter and put it on a solid spot of soil and see what crawls out. I have not tried this method of attack before so I am going to give it a shot. I will combine methods of sweep netting, @sambiology 's petri dish method, air netting, and the new trowl method. I am hoping to get more than my first BioBlitz out there. I didn't get much the first time. I know a few good areas that has tons of leaf litter. I have been out there a few times this month so finding the areas will be an easy task. I just have to be extremely cautious because stinging and biting insects as well as snakes can be lurking in the leaf piles. This is going to be fun but it is going to be challenging. I have never used this many tactics in one day. I will have to alternate at each area I go to. I will start at the main pond and then work my way down. Then I work my way up to the prairie areas and the other pond. I can look for Dragonflies and stuff and also do some sweep netting. Then I will also go down to the forested area. I found some pretty neat stuff at the Honey Locust area in recent days so I have to hit up that area and see what I can find. I am hoping I can get thirty or more things observed. I am just hoping that I don't loose the majority of species I will find using the trowl method. That is the tricky part of the scenario most the insects in the leaf litter will try to run as fast as they can. I will have to be quick with the camera and I may not be able to get all the stuff in each flip of the leaf litter. I am just going to do that in a few spots that I know are good. I also hope the morning won't be too cold. Insects as many of you know are my specialty and they don't really come out to play at all if it is too cold. We have been getting some really chilly mornings in recent days. I am hoping it will warm up very quickly by the time ten rolls around. I can't wait for this BioBlitz I have been keeping my eyes out for another one. With these BioBlitzes I have been able to double my numbers on this site. They are good to get a number boost lets just put it that way. It will take longer for me to upload my photos because of the new program I use to slightly edit my photos. That includes cropping and slight picture enhancing. It is going to be quite the challenge but hey I am up for a challenge. I hope that tomorrow goes smoothly and I am hoping for a big turnout. I can't wait to meet new faces and to meet new insects. I guess that is it for this post. I will post another one about the BioBlitz as soon as I get all the photos uploaded. I can't wait to see how this goes. This is Zachary Chapman AKA Galactic_Bug_Man Signing off. See you soon!

Publicado el octubre 20, 2017 11:05 TARDE por galactic_bug_man