What is a BioBlitz?
‘Bio’ means ‘life’ and ‘Blitz’ means ‘to do something quickly and intensively’. Together they make ‘BioBlitz’ — a collaborative seeking and gathering of a nature-based item in a specific area and within a short time frame.
Our Spring Wildflower BioBlitz runs from April 1 – May 31, 2024. We will seek out and gather photographs of wildflowers. Photos can be submitted from anywhere within Elkhart County….and the best part is that anyone can join!
How to join?
The entire BioBlitz will take place on the iNaturalist app. If you don’t already have the app, no problem. It is a simple, free download from the “App Store” or the “Play Store” on your phone.
Once you have the app, here are the steps to take to become a citizen scientist in our Spring Wildflower BioBlitz:
- Create an account within the iNaturalist app.
- Click on the “projects” tab and search for “Wildflower BioBlitz: Elkhart County 2024”. Click “join” to become a part of the BioBlitz.
- Look around for spring wildflowers…in your yard, at a park, along a roadside or in a woods. Just remember, the wildflower must be in Elkhart County.
- Open the app and click on “new observation” or the green “+” symbol at the bottom of the screen. Then choose the “take photo” option.
- Take a photo of the wildflower you found.
- After the photo was taken, it should take you to an “edit observation” page where you can do lots of things like make a guess at what you saw, write notes about where you found it, pin a location and add to a project.
- Click on “add a project” and select the “Wildflower BioBlitz: Elkhart County 2024”. This will add your finding to the collective BioBlitz findings.
And, that’s it! Now you can look back at all the collective findings and your observations at any time….go through the main menu in the app. The iNaturalist community will help with identifications, too.
A few of the beautiful, spring wildflowers you may come across…
Hepatica
