GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. — The natural world is an intricate web, and understanding and connecting to it can seem like a daunting task.
Community Science is a great way to start. It gives people a chance to learn about the environment at their own pace.
The Buffalo Audubon Society is holding a 'Bio-Blitz' on June 11 at Buckhorn Island State Park on Grand Island. Buffalo Audubon Naturalist Tom Kerr says the event is open to the public and provides an opportunity for learning and a way to contribute to ongoing knowledge of the park
"A Bio Blitz is just a survey of all the living things in an area, it's kind of unofficial, we're going to come out here on June 11, and we have volunteers and will be using the app INaturalist to record anything living that we find."
The use of apps helps to gather information on habitat and make it available on a wide scale.
"INaturalist does have a way that people can search it , scientists, ecologists can search it looking for different species," Kerr explains. "EBird is another thing Ornithologists can use to study bird populations. So we're just collecting a lot of data and putting it out there for anyone to use. It has been called citizen science in the past, but we're calling it community science now because anybody can do it."
Buckhorn Island is an 895-acre park on the northern end of Grand Island. Though the park is not widely known, Kerr says it's very important to the region.
"It might be a park where people walk this trail and come to the bridge and they go fishing at the bridge and they go back, but there's so much more here, and maybe people don't think of this as habitat, but it's a really important habitat for Grand Island and the Niagara River. The Niagara River is a globally significant bird area."
The Bio Blitz runs the whole day, but participants can choose to take part for any length of time that suits them. The experience is a chance to learn and also to connect with the world around them.
"A lot of people are looking for something to do outside," says Kerr. "And we want to turn those people and point them towards nature, learning about nature, appreciating nature."
If you'd like to take part in the Bio Blitz, click here.
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