About
BioBlitz is a 24-hr event during which biologists count as many species as they can in our local nature park. Families with nature lovers, budding scientists, and experienced naturalists of all ages are invited. Discovery activities begin Friday evening 7-9 pm, with booths open on Saturday 10 am-4 pm. ALL KIDS MUST BE ATTENDED BY ADULTS. ALL DOGS MUST BE ON-LEASH!
TIPS: Parking will be in the Main Lot (families with strollers &/or handicap) and Equestrian Lot (hardy folks). A shuttle will run between lots. PLEASE DO NOT PARK ON ROCK PRAIRIE ROAD. Dress for the outdoors and prepare to get muddy and be “Woods Worthy”. For more details, read the following links. If you have questions, check the FAQ at right or add a comment at the bottom of this page. We will answer your questions as soon as we can.
flyer | event schedule | driving directions | event description | What is it?
=======================================================
Friday, April 1st
6:00 pm-7:00 pm Meet the Scientists @ MAIN PARKING LOT
7:00 pm- Frog Walk with Herp Survey Team starts @ MAIN PARKING LOT
7:30- 10:00 pm- Stargazing and telescopes Brazos Region Astronomy Service Society (BRASS) @EQUESTRIAN PARKING LOT (May be cancelled if cloudy!)
7:30-9:00 pm Insect Black Lighting Invert Survey Team @ MAIN PARKING LOT
7:30 pm- Bat Release starts @ MAIN PARKING LOT
8:00- Nocturnal Mammal Walk starts @ EQUESTRIAN PARKING LOT
Saturday, April 2nd
@EQUESTRIAN LOT
9:30 am-3:30 pm Solar Sessions with BRASS
@SPEAKERS TENT BY THE CHIMNEY SWIFT KIOSK (MAIN PARKING LOT)
morning
10:00 Welcome to BioBlitz - Booths open along trail between parking lots
10:15 Opening remarks- Discovery, Nurturing and Celebrating Biodiversity!
10:30 Birds talk/walk- What birds live here?
11:00 The Human Footprint: Ancient Peoples- Who walked here before us?
11:30 Human Footprints: Sustainability- who will walk here in the future?
11:30 Butterflies! Take a 1hour walk with an amazing expert and learn! (until 12:30pm)
afternoon
12:30 Small Plants talk/walk- What wildflowers live here?
1:00 Herps talk/walk- what frogs, lizards, turtles & snakes live here?
1:30 Human Footprints: Present- How can we Keep Brazos Beautiful?
2:00 “Bugs” talk/walk- Do you know what flies and crawls around you? @Bug Table
2:00 Big Plants talk- What trees live here? @Plant Table
2:30 Fish talk/walk- How can fish tell us about the health of our waters?
3:00 Mammals talk/walk- What mammals live here?
3:30 GRAND TALLEY OF ALL THE SPECIES COUNTED- What species live here?
4:00 Event Closing - Celebrate Nature & Nurture our Park!
BioBlitz has been in the news! Check out these articles:
http://wild-wonderings.blogspot.com/
http://www.theeagle.com/lifestyles/Researchers-need-help-of-volunteers
http://agnewsarchive.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/WFSC/Mar2802a.htm
NEWS FLASH:
Thanks to the efforts of all our partners, BioBlitz 2008 was a tremendous success! Over 400 members of our community participated. Survey teams documented over 330 species: 50 birds, 13 fish, 13 herps, 89 invert families, 10 mammals, 156 plants.
Survey coordinators reminded us the count is a conservative estimate of biodiversity, since the invertebrates were counted at the family level,due to the difficulty of identifying all specimens at the species level. Many species we know live in the park were not documented in this 24 hour period.
Above all, the smiles on kids faces made it all worthwhile. Our teams demonstrated the value of caring and sharing nature in our Brazos Valley! We hope you will join us again next year and bring a friend!
Our Grand Tally for 2009 was: 271 species counted by survey teams for BIRDS (49), INSECTS (40), MAMMALS (12), PLANTS (137), FISH (19), HERPS (14)!
Participants included over 300 visitors and 60 volunteers. Thanks to all who helped make BioBlitz 2009 a success!
On Friday evening, over 200 people enjoyed the BRASS star gazing activity. Release of 10 bats was a thrilling highlight to celebrate the new bat houses installed on Deer Run Trail. Insect blacklighting, herp searches and owl prowl were a big draw.
On Saturday, families enjoyed seeing and learning about the ambassador species at the booths of each of the survey teams. Survey team leaders talked about their experiences, answered questions and led walks from the Speakers Tent
in the main parking lot.
Volunteers shared many memorable moments with me. My favorite was watching the kids spontaneously organize their own Herp Hunts!
Special thanks to our partners:
City of College Station - Parks & Recreation
Society for Conservation Biology - TAMU Student Chapter
Texas Master Naturalists - Brazos Valley Chapter
Audubon Society - Rio Brazos (RBAS)
Blinn College- Aquatic Education Center
Texas A&M University- Insect Collection (TAMUIC)
Texas A&M University- Herbarium
Texas A&M University- Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collections (TCWC)
Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History
I spent four days with Ed Riley last month. I posted the pix of the ~250 beetle spp. we collected, and Ed determined, on the southeast side of College Station.
picasaweb.google.com/entomike/BrazosCountyTexas1619IV2009#
or: tinyurl.com/ceougv
TEXAS: Brazos Co.
se. College Station
16-19-IV-2009
M. Quinn, E. Riley
Most material found via black lighting, beating and sweeping.
Note that 250 species is a little less than a fifth the total ~1,300 spp. that Ed has recorded for Brazos County. (There may be twice that many based on the 3,500 spp. recorded from Latimer Co., OK: http://www.texasento.net/KHS.htm)
Mike Quinn, Austin
________________
Texas Entomology
texasento.net
Here is a quick link to reports:
http://blogs.tamu.edu/bioblitz/logistics/reports/
If you are interested in learning more about biodiversity in Texas, here is a good link:
http://www.nhnct.org/fauna/fauna.html