Ready, Set, Bioblitz: How to use iNaturalist for all NBI’s Big Events

Get ready with us for all of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative BioBlitz events. This 20-minute online workshop will guide you on how to use the iNaturalist app and explain why your observations are so important as we catalog what we see around the island. iNaturalist is an important tool using many professionals and armatures alike!

Using this public, free app, we will learn to take photos of things in nature to identify and catalog our finds. Not only will we learn more about the island's biodiversity, but we will also contribute biodiversity information on a larger scale.

This workshop will be held using zoom webinar and recorded for future viewing. Join any of the NBI 20th Anniversary events to use iNaturalist in the field or go out on your own to help us record the biodiversity of Nantucket.

Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mfBsLkPERaypWIGjgJhSGw

*This zoom webinar can be attended live, but will also be recorded for later viewing. Please register to receive a link to the program recording.

This event is part of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary celebration week. Join the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s staff Ecologists to find, identify and record as many plant and animal species as possible at NCF’s recently restored Windswept Bog. Phase 1 of this wetland restoration project (15 of 40 total acres of former cranberry bog) was completed in March 2024, and many new species have been establishing in the restored wetland habitat since then. You are invited to explore the property with our ecology team, utilize the iNaturalist and/or eBird apps to record your sightings, and contribute to documenting how this former bog is transitioning into a naturally functioning wetland.

Prerequisite: Download the iNaturalist and/or eBird apps onto your phone; familiarity with and/or attending the NBI iNaturalist training event on October 1st

Attire: suitable for the weather, waterproof boots recommended

Bring: fully charged cell phone with iNaturalist and/or eBird, water, snacks

Join us at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s office conference room to share and discuss the results of our first day of gathering data on Nantucket’s unique biodiversity as we celebrate the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary! We invite you to come and share highlights of the day’s events, including the morning’s Windswept Bog restoration site bioblitz. This will be a fun and casual time to share your findings and socialize with fellow biodiversity fans.

We hope you can join us! Light refreshments and snacks will be provided.

This event is part of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary celebration week. Get ready for an exciting bioblitz day at LLNF! Kick off the morning with a bird banding session with Master Bird Bander Libby Buck. You'll have the opportunity to observe migrating songbirds like Black-capped Chickadees and Gray Catbirds up close as we capture, band, and release them. Learn about the bird banding process and its importance in protecting our local bird populations. Since the event is outdoors, dress accordingly and registration is required.

Optional: Continue the bioblitz fun at the LLNF 90 Property after the session!

This event is part of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary celebration week. Join the Linda Loring Nature Foundation’s Conservation Research, Education, and Stewardship staff to find, identify, and record as many plant and animal species as possible at the in-progress restoration area at 90 Eel Point Road, a part of the LLNF property currently closed to the general public. In 2023 several acres of invasive pine were cut opening up the landscape to sandplain grassland and heathland species. As the LLNF works to create a more resilient landscape, we plan to catalog the species currently occupying the area. We will traverse upland sandplain grassland habitat, freshwater wetlands, brackish pond edges, and some small pitch pine forest.

Help us catalog this newer property and be a part of our biodiversity inventory!  

Prerequisite: Download the iNaturalist and/or eBird apps onto your phone; familiarity with and/or attending the NBI iNaturalist training event on October 1st

Attire: suitable for the weather, close-toed shoes required

Bring: fully charged cell phone with iNaturalist and/or eBird, water, snacks

How Nantucket’s glacial outwash valleys are evolving into storm pathways – A walk through the post-glacial present of the island’s sandplain grasslands and into our sea level rise future.

Join Nantucket guide and author Peter Brace on an exploration of the island’s west south shore through Head of the Plains and Ram Pasture to learn how Nantucket’s outwash valleys were cut into our island-in-the-making by the melting Laurentide ice sheet. We’ll talk about the roles these valleys are predicted to play in the transformation of the island by sea level rise and discuss the Town’s coastal resilience efforts to help Nantucket adapt to the coming flood. Hike will be approximately two and a half hours long. Transportation will be provided, but space is limited.

For those with their own transportation, meet at the Nantucket Land Bank’s Long Pond pier parking area on the east side of South Cambridge Street in Madaket at 2 p.m. For those without their own vehicles, transportation for up to 11 people will be provided. Meet at the Handlebar Café at 15 Washington St. at 1:30 p.m.

Join us in celebrating the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary at a special gathering at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation. This event will provide an opportunity to reflect on the day’s discoveries at all the NBI events – Bird Banding, LLNF BioBlitz, and hike with Nantucket Walkabout. We share our curiosity by reviewing the highlights, sharing stories, and discussing the findings from the field.

Everyone is welcome. You do not have to have attended the day’s events to participate in the social. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided, so bring your enthusiasm and a tale or two about your Bioblitz adventure.

This event is part of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary celebration week. Come join Nantucket Land Bank biologists in a forest management survey! We will be using iNaturalist to survey understory plants in areas of Gardner Farm where our forests have been recently managed, and comparing the understory there to unmanaged areas. This will help us learn about the impact of forest management in Gardner, and what our forest may look like in the future. Just bring sturdy shoes and a smartphone!

Celebrating 20 Years of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative

Join us for a presentation by the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI) to celebrate 20 years of native biodiversity conservation and research. We will look at the past 20 years of native biodiversity research and education on Nantucket while also celebrating where NBI is now and what we look forward to into the future.

Initiated in 2014, NBI brings together researchers, conservation groups, educational institutions, municipalities, and individuals to conserve the native biodiversity of Nantucket through collaborative research, monitoring, and education. We’ll highlight NBI-supported research findings, contributions to science, and new discoveries as well as ways everyone can be involved in contributing to Nantucket Biodiversity knowledge.

Join Libby Buck (LLNF) and Ginger Andrews (MMA) for an early morning birding walk at Smith's Point! We’ll head out to the flats to witness the shorebird migration and participate in a bioblitz, recording all the birds we see using eBird. This will be approximately a 2-mile walk, so prepare for sandy terrain and dress according to the weather. No registration is required—just come ready to enjoy a morning of birding with friends and contribute to community science! Binoculars are available to borrow. All experience levels welcome.

* Park along Massachusetts Ave - Carpooling is encouraged        

Join the Maria Mitchell Aquarium Manager, Christina Norman, on a scalloping adventure! As we collect and observe bay scallops - we will learn all about their biology and the challenges they face. Waders, hand nets, and bathyscopes will be provided! This program meets at the Monomoy Beach (parking lot at 41.27865° N, 70.08286° W) at listed time of the event. This trip requires a valid shellfish permit in order to take home bay scallops. For more information on obtaining an individual shellfish permit, visit the Town of Nantucket website. Pre-registration is required as this program meets off site. 

This event is part of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary celebration week.

Join us in celebrating the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s 20th anniversary at a special gathering at the Maria Mitchell association. This event will celebrate the MMA 33 Washington Street Property, future home to our beloved Aquarium, providing an opportunity to reflect on the day’s discoveries. We share our curiosity by reviewing the highlights, sharing stories, and discussing the findings from the field.

Light refreshments and snacks will be provided, so bring your enthusiasm and a tale or two about your field adventures.

Do you wonder what is living in the marsh? Join members of the NBI aquatic threats committee at the UMass Nantucket Field Station as we explore and survey aquatic and related biodiversity in Folger's Marsh along Fulling Mill Creek. Learn about the water that flows in and out of the marsh and take measurements. Identify and log the many interesting species that make up the marsh community!

Park at the visitor lot and stroll to the lab where we will meet before going into the marsh to record marsh creek biodiversity. Expect to step into water. Children are most welcome but must be accompanied by an adult. 

Join us at the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station Dorm to see and hear about the range of life we found in Folger's Marsh early today! Meet and chat with various members of NBI's aquatic threats committee for Q&A regarding a variety of related topics: environmental monitoring, marine invasive species and harmful algal blooms. Light refreshments provided.