Yesterday, I took a stroll through Centennial Woods to participate in the City Nature Challenge. I also found plenty of species around campus. I totaled 23 observations of 21 different species, plus some others that didn’t make it onto iNaturalist.
Some of the bird species I found included Black Capped Chickadee, Crow, Raven, Pine Warbler, American Goldfinch, Red Breasted Nuthatch, and Blue Jay. Plus lots of robins and gulls as usual. I also found some insects, like a Tiger Beetle and a Mourning Cloak. Also, a little Garter Snake!
I also saw some cool plant species, like Garlic Mustard and some ferns that I couldn’t quite identify.
I couldn’t find a lot of mammals, just some gray squirrels. I did see some interesting tracks in the mud, though. Most were from dogs, but some of the tracks by the brook had five toes, maybe from a raccoon or a fisher.
After adding my observations to iNaturalist, I checked out the page for the Philadelphia area since that’s where I’m from. It was cool to see a lot of the same species, like garlic mustard, blue jays, robins, and even some woodpeckers. They also have spotted lanternflies, which are invasive, and luckily I don’t see those in Vermont. I also checked out Cape Town, South Africa, which had a lot of marine species. People have recorded sea urchins and sponges, plus lots of shore birds. They’ve also seen ostriches, which are cool.