This past weekend was the weekend we’ve been anticipating since September. Chris and Walt have been gearing us up to lead the city of Burlington in the 3 day international BioBlitz. I am a big fan of seek so I was excited to see what I could identify. On Friday I captured a few species when I was walking to class. My friends and I kept sending each other pictures of what we found. I was not expecting to have as much fun as I did with this. On Saturday my friends and I went up to Rock Point to see what we could find. Walt greeted us on his bicycle which was a nice surprise. He was looking for peregrine falcons down at the shore line. After we spent about an hour and a half identifying we walked back up near the school to celebrate with the community. It was great to see everyone come together in Burlington for this event.

I can now say confidently that I can identify common blue violets, grape hyacinths, and red trillium. Just by having a weekend of exploration has opened my eyes to how many species of plants there are out there. I went on a hike on Sunday and I was able to identify fiddlehead, red trillium, and many trees. Being able to identify species around me has fostered a deeper connection to the world around me. I will definitely use seek and inaturalst when I go home for the summer. It would be amazing if I could identify species of plants that are native to Pennsylvania.

Throughout the weekend I made a total of 52 observations, 48 species, and 25 species are research grade observations!