This week, I made a trip down to Burlington Waterfront Park to observe signs of wildlife in the city using iNaturalist. I noticed on my walk there that there did not seem to be many signs of wildlife. The snow had melted and the mud was too walked on to see any tracks. There were not any squirrels where I went as well which I was surprised by. Once I got to the lake, however, I did notice a crow sitting on a chimney top. I chose to identify it as a crow and not a raven because it had a small, straight beak. Ravens have long, curved beaks. As I got closer to the lake, I noticed large flocks of seagulls overhead. None of them were landing, but they did swoop close to the ground and the lake. I was surprised by the fact that they were returning so soon because it is the middle of February. It has been unseasonably warm this week, though, so I believe that could have something to do with it. Using the iNaturalist app was surprisingly easier than I thought. It looked a lot more complicated in class and I thought that I would struggle to figure out how it worked or how to join the class project section. It was very easy to use though and I think it is a really cool app that so many people can use to identify and track animals in their community.
