Riveredge welcomes all to our first annual Bioblitz at the new Riveredge Sandhill Property! (Sandhill is located @ 4630 St.Finbars Road, Saukville, WI 53080 – park on the East side of St. Finbars Road.)
The Bioblitz is a free event where participants actively contribute to the historic monitoring and inventory of plants, birds, insects, fish and more within a fixed acreage of land and water. We’ll use photo documentation and data collection with the easy-to-use iNaturalist app. (If you’re new to iNaturalist, we’ll show you how to use it.) See below for a guide to the day–come for all or just drop in for your favorite activity.
GUIDE TO THE DAY
Anytime 8:00 am – 3:00 pm | Registration and App Orientation (Downloading iNaturalist on your phone is the first step to contributing to this citizen science community effort. We will be on-hand to give you a short tutorial to the app if you haven’t used it before! If you would like your observations to count towards this BioBlitz, you will join the Riveredge Bioblitz through the iNaturalist application on your smart device.) Our Registration and App Orientation Table will be located on the trailhead into Sandhill and open from 8:00am to 3:00pm.
Anytime 8:00 am – 3:00 pm | Bioblitz! (Once registered, simply use the app to help you identify and record everything from grass, flowers, insects, trees, birds and mammals! Your contributions will be added to our total species list, help to inform management, and track change over time.
8:00 am – 12:00 pm | Songbird Capture and Banding Research Observation (Mist-nets and a banding table will be set up with an ability to approach and engage researchers recording data and banding wild songbirds. The Riveredge Research Manager Jana Gedymin will lead this effort. Jana is a Master Bander certified through the Institute for Bird Populations)
9:00am, 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm | Tour Woody Plant Identification and Community Orchard Demonstration Area (Matt Smith, research and conservation director, will lead groups on a tour of wild native woody plants and the native agroforestry plantings Riveredge has established with the Savanna Institute and Great Lakes Protection Fund. Matt has been a restoration ecologist for the last 24 years and is well-versed in teaching native species identification and ecology. Tours will be 30 minutes long and run on the hour at 9:00am, 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm
8:30am, 9:30am, 11:30 am, 1:30pm | Tour Birding by Sight and Song (Nathaniel Reinartz, conservation manager, will lead groups on an educational hike to discover the area’s songbirds by sight and song. Nathaniel is a professional atlaser and bioacoustic technician that annually monitors birds in their habitats, conducts Wisconsin breeding bird atlas field surveys, and speciates birds through audio recordings and spectrograph analysis. Nathaniel also leads the Friday morning bird walks at Riveredge. If you don’t have binoculars we have enough to lend for the tour 🙂 Tours will be 45 minutes long and run at: 8:30am, 9:30am, 11:30 am, 1:30pm
8:00 am – 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Interactive Youth Activity Table (Riveredge Environmental Educators will host fun nature-based activities t<hroughout the day in the shade)
All ages welcome | Children must be accompanied by an adult
This event is free for everyone!
Pre-registration is not required, but highly recommended so you can be notified of any changes due to weather.
Register Here
