See a bumble bee? Find coyote scat in Los Angeles? Your sightings are important to citizen science projects. The Xerces Society Bumble Bee Watch covers the US, Canada and the UK, while the National Park Service’s Coyote Scat Survey is exclusive to the Los Angeles area. Both projects involve more than seeing-reporting. You can contribute important conservation information, and learn bumble bee ecology and how to discover a coyote’s dinner from his dried poop.
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. Animals, weather, meteorites, climate, soil, plants, waters are all 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, your location. 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. |
bumble bee watch
Bumble Bee Watch can be done where you live without special training and data is uploaded online. In addition to observation data, the program offers bumble bee identification guides and help in promoting their conservation through habitat enhancement and restricted use of harmful pesticides.
Follow Bumble Bee Watch through their Twitter and Facebook accounts to get tips on what bumble bees to look for and up to date news about this project.
Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborative effort to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. This citizen science project allows for individuals to:
- Upload photos of bumble bees to start a virtual bumble bee collection;
- Identify the bumble bees in your photos and have your identifications verified by experts;
- Help researchers determine the status and conservation needs of bumble bees;
- Help locate rare or endangered populations of bumble bees;
- Learn about bumble bees, their ecology, and ongoing conservation efforts; and
- Connect with other citizen scientists.
poop project
The coyote scat project requires training and coordination with other participants. It involves learning how to dig into coyote scat to identify what that animal has been eating. Visit the webpage for details on the training workshop and commitments.
The National Park Service has started a study in Los Angeles to look at the role of coyotes in urban ecosystems, and to help provide information about coyotes to wildlife managers and residents of L.A.
To learn about coyote diet; an important component of urban coyote ecology, we are starting a citizen science coyote scat collection project. The information on diet will be a vital component of the overall coyote project and will provide information on the ecological role coyotes play in the urban areas of Los Angeles.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR:
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At least 10, and up to 30, volunteers willing to come to a Saturday training, who will help us collect coyote scat in green spaces within the metropolitan area in and around Los Angeles for at least one full day during the first week of every month; and
- Citizen scientists to help us identify the contents of coyote scat collected in the city (once it has been dried and sterilized), for between one and three full days every month.
Oh, Marin! Even your coyotes are stoned.
I looked for an article from a month ago about coyote scat in Los Angeles. I began to type in the search terms coyotes in LA eating … and mushrooms filled in where I expected “cats” so I clicked on it: ‘shroomed coyotes.
There are strange goings on in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Local media are reporting repeated instances of coyotes behaving oddly, staring at and then charging at cars on the Pacific Coast Highway near the beach town of Bolinas and Stinson Beach. [...]
Amanita muscaria has a long history of shamanic use in Siberia and Northern Europe, as well as Indian and Iran, where it was once considered a sacred hallucinogen. But it's not just Siberian shamans who have a taste for 'shrooms; both coyotes and domestic dogs are known to eat them and, like humans, can suffer "neurological excitability," seizures, and even death from poisonous ones. Now, local animal welfare workers are counseling dog owners on how to keep their pets away from them.
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted Saturday at 5pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment. |
who’s pooping or pollinating or hallucinating near you?