Get Ready to BioBlitz! – Final Schedule

The 24 hour survey of the Children’s Forest; 1200 pm April 16 – 1200 pm April 17, 2016 is coming closer!!! Everyone is welcome to join in this celebration of our forest lands!!

Our team of talented Cortes naturalists are especially excited to be welcoming off-island guests: Frank Boas and Purnima Govindarajulu. Meet them at the BioBlitz Presenter’s Evening, Friday, April 15 at 7:30 pm at Gorge Hall.

Frank Boas resides, retired… on Quadra Island and is one of the best moss men in the province of BC. Some of you may have met Frank at our Whaletown Commons BioBlitz a few years back and you will be able to attest to the energy of… Moss Mania, the cloud of swirling green energy that Frank generates!!! Spend a walk with Frank this weekend and you will never look at a moss the same way again!!!

Purnima Govindarajulu, from Victoria is the provincial small mammals & herpetofauna specialist… yup, that’s a mouthful!!! Herps are amphibians and reptiles, and the small mammals Purnima is most passionate about are…bats!!! Purnima will be speaking, at our Presenters Evening, about the incredible challenges we face today in conserving populations of these animals in the face of rapidly expanding global diseases. This is a public talk and we welcome all members of the Cortes community to come out and meet Purnima, who is interested in having Cortes Island join the BC Bat Monitoring Program, which she co-ordinates for the Ministry of Environment.

So here it is… the naturalist schedule for this weekend’s BioBlitz….
Please be reminded that all guided walks (unless indicated otherwise) begin & end at our BioBlitz portal, which is an ~40’ walk in from the trailhead on Carrington Bay Road. The trailhead well signed with parking available.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

12:00 pm – Join Frank Boas for… Moss Mania; identification and natural history of local moss (and some liverwort) species; bring your magnifying lenses.
and…
Liz Richardson for… Plant Plethora; identification and natural history of our local vascular plant species; bring your Plants of Coastal BC reference book.

2:00 pm – Join Max Thaysen, for… Seriously Salmon; Cortes Streamkeepers work in James Creek; meet our resident cutthroat trout.
and…
Conrad Dombrowski for… Mushrooms in a Magic Meadow; identification of our local fungal species and the natural history of mycorrhizae; everywhere beneath your feet!

4:00 pm – Join Purnima Govindarajulu for… Amphibia Ambles; walk wetlands in search of amphibian egg masses for identification of species present and learn some of their natural history; gumboots a good idea!

Dinner Break – at which time the rest of the forest animals come out to watch the mammals gathered at the campsite… eat!

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Join Purnima Govindarajulu for…the Crepuscular Hours; the time when bats, owls and flying squirrels are in their element!!
Purnima will be working the air waves with an ultrasonic detector; bat species are identified by the frequency of their sounds… let’s discover who is flying!!
Northern flying squirrels are strictly nocturnal animals… so we will also be on the lookout for these “forest shadows” gliding through the canopy.
(*Note that this walk starts from Carrington Bay Park campsite at 7:00 pm.)

Sunday, April 17, 2016

12:00 am – Join Cortes youth on a midnight forest watch…“If you go out in the woods tonight… (*Note that this walk starts from Carrington Bay Park campsite.)

4:00 am– 6:00 am – Join Cortes youth for… The Dawn Chorus
(*Note that this walk starts from Carrington Bay Park campsite at 0400)

8:00 am – Join Nancy & Ray Kendall for… Bird Brains & other crazy things to do this early on a Sunday Morning! Identification of local birds by sight and sound. The forest is simply alive with returning bird species this fabulous month of spring!!! Join in!

10:00 am – Join Sabina Leader Mense for… A is for Alligator Lizards; we’re off to the high bluffs above Carrington Lagoon to prowl beneath the manzanita bushes for alligator lizards and other resident reptiles!

12:00 pm – Cortes Youth Close the Circle in the Children’s Forest… as we come to the end of our 24 hour survey

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!!

The Children’s Forest BioBlitz is hosted by Cortes youth and sponsored by the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island Society. Questions? Sabina 250 935 6467

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