| The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. |
Wherever you are
If you google “habitat network” the top answer will be http://content.yardmap.org/
You should go explore that page and poke around a bit. Note the “Join the Network” button in the center and the “sign in” button at top right, but no rush. There is a boatload of hidden content. The "About tab" will take you to http://content.yardmap.org/about-us/
A couple of snippets from that page follow:
Habitat Network is a citizen science project designed to cultivate a richer understanding of wildlife habitat, for both professional scientists and people concerned with their local environments. We collect data by asking individuals across the country to literally draw maps of their backyards, parks, farms, favorite birding locations, schools, and gardens. We connect you with your landscape details and provide tools for you to make better decisions about how to manage landscapes sustainably. The Science of Habitat Network What kinds of questions are we seeking to answer with your help?What practices improve the wildlife value of residential landscapes? Which of these practices have the greatest impact? Over how large an area do we have to implement these practices to really make a difference? What impact do urban and suburban wildlife corridors and stopover habitats have on birds? Which measures (bird counts? nesting success?) show the greatest impacts of our practices?
There are also local resources for you; information on your ecoregion, local pollinators and native plants, purveyors of the latter, etc.
So what's it all about? You join and either create a login or use your existing one - the one you use(d) for e-bird, feederwatch, great backyard bird count, etc., because this is our friends at Cornell and you possibly already have a login.
So, your job is to map your habitat, to possibly improve it, and, if so, update your map. It is made quite easy because of the tool(s) provided. First, you download an app. I run it under both Chromium and Firefox running on an Ubuntu desktop. I'm pretty sure that it can handle almost anything mainstream.
You use that app to home in on your place in google maps/google earth, zoom in close, mark the boundary of your place and save it. Then you outline and identify objects and habitat types or zones, buildings, shrubs, lawns, trees, grasslands, etc. There are instructions and they'll also send you a series of instructional e-mails about features and steps to be performed. I just found a feature/tool that will make me revise mine severely, but, each step is easy enough with the reference picture, that it is no big deal.
So, naturally, I'm going to exhort you to sign up and get started, but this is also a daily bucket, so, we have bucketing to do.
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What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.
Thank you.