Journal archives for January 2021

January 7, 2021

December 2020 Photo-observation of the Month

Congratulations to Daron Tansley for winning the December 2020 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist. Daron's image of a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk garnered the most likes by iNaturalist users.

Leucism is a genetic condition in which parts or all of an animal's body surface lack cells capable of producing pigment. (The word is derived from the Greek word leukos, meaning "white".) Leucism is different than albinism, another similar condition in birds. Considered to be extremely rare in the wild, albinism is marked by a total lack of melanin. Leucism, notably, only impacts the bird’s feathers, while albinism is apparent in the feathers and elsewhere. Albino animals almost always sport red eyes, as well as pale pink or red skin, feet and bills. Leucistic birds usually have normally colored eyes, skin and feet; the condition of leucism only impacts the feathers.

With nearly 2,485 observations submitted by 314 observers in December, it was very competitive. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

Posted on January 7, 2021 07:02 PM by kpmcfarland kpmcfarland | 1 comment | Leave a comment

January 8, 2021

Naturalists Help the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist Build Biodiversity Big Data in 2020

From the first observation of 2020, a Gray Fox still celebrating the New Year at 4:30 AM submitted by ckhunt, to Great Mullein leaves poking out of the snow shared by Pete Kerby-Miller at twilight on the last day of the year, naturalists added nearly 175,000 biodiversity records to our rapidly growing database of life in Vermont.

And, amazing observations kept coming all year long. We had 6,092 naturalists contribute more than 174,597 observations representing 4,073 species verified. Over 3,900 naturalist and experts helped to identify and verify data.

These statistics are 2-3 times higher than any previous year. We've worked hard to recruit new users to the project, from seasoned naturalists to those just learning, and many of you have helped. But surely our work alone can't explain this incredible growth in one year that had so many challenges for all of us. We think we know the answer.

Read whole story about neat discoveries and more on the VCE Blog.

Posted on January 8, 2021 05:57 PM by kpmcfarland kpmcfarland | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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