Sunday April 27, 9:30 a.m.
Waterfront Park
For my BioBlitz adventure, I went to Burlington Waterfront Park early in the morning. I almost didn’t go, but I was dragged out of bed by my friends into the cold and rainy morning. I am happy they did. Before I knew it, I was by the water with wind pushing past my face. The cold kept me awake. Immediately, we began to record what we saw. A flower or weed here and there, and while my friends focused on the plants, I found myself drawn to the songs in the sky. Using Merlin in conjunction with iNaturalist I found chipping sparrow, song sparrow, and cashed around a white-throated sparrow that always managed to be heard but never seen. Additionally, I downloaded the newer version of iNaturalist for this walk, and I found it arguably more difficult than the original app. I felt the recommendations were more often wrong, or I struggled to properly add my identification on the app when I knew what it was, but the app didn’t. However, it was still fun and exciting, and reminded me of why I am learning what I am. An eastern gray squirrel and an American robin foraged nearby as I sat in the damp grass and remembered what it felt like to be alive.
A song sparrow’s song!
In total, I recorded a total number of 10 species on my walk that morning, but I probably walked by 100s. Some were too far to properly identify, and many were disregarded in my unsuccessful hunt for that white-throated sparrow. This is just a gentle reminder that even in the city, nature is bursting at the seams around us. If we take a moment, we can all see it.
On a Global Scale
As I type this out, the San Antonio Metro Area is in the lead with over 88,000 observations and over 4,000 species recorded. That is just absolutely astounding and remarkable in my opinion. While Burlington isn’t at the bottom, I don’t think we will be able to catch up to that level of observations in the day we have left. I will say that the patriotic side of me is happy an American city is going to win this year, but a lot can happen in a day, so I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed.
