During the four-day City Nature Challenge iNaturalist BioBlitz, I explored my own phenology spot, the Redstone pines, as well as the waterfront park and Perkins Pier. I really enjoyed being able to document my findings using the iNaturalist app, because it allowed me to look back at everything that I found, and I also liked being able to see what other Burlington residents were observing. When looking at reports coming in from other areas of the world, I wanted to specifically look at Columbus, OH, which is where I am from. I found it interesting that there were so many more flower observations in Columbus than Burlington, and fewer animal sightings. I was not surprised by the fewer animal sightings because Columbus is landlocked and surrounded by development, which is unlike Burlington. However, I never realized how many species of flowers are present in Columbus until I looked at the city’s nature challenge page. The species that I encountered included American Robins, Eastern Gray Squirrels, Northern Cardinals, ladybugs, worms, and house flies. I also observed many plant species such as dandelions, garlic mustard, blue violets, border forsythia, and many of the native trees that we studied during first semester. I think in total I observed about 15 species.
