Lake Merritt BioBlitz!

650 Bellevue Ave,Oakland CA 94610

12 December, 2021

Description

What are the organisms that inhabit Oakland's Lake Merritt? Join us to identify native plants and animals on iNaturalist! Lake Merritt was the United States' first official wildlife refuge and has been listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1963. The lake features grassy shores, several artificial islands intended as bird refuges with more than 600 species, including non-native lifeforms from all over the world inhabiting the area. During this BioBlitz we can look forward to a plethora of fauna to observe and identify! Lake Merrit is home to several unique species including transorchestia enigmatica, the Black Crowned Night Heron, and Great Egrets. iNaturalist at Lake Merritt currently has 687 confirmed research-grade observations and several more that we can work towards reaching that level! Join us to learn more about IDing organisms AND get more of our iNaturalist observations to research-grade. We'll spend the first 2.5 hours observing lifeforms with your camera, phone, or otherwise, and the last 1/2 hour looking at our observations together and making sure they get added to iNaturalist. If you don't have a great lens for birding but still want to come, there are many plants and easier to see flora and fauna you can also observe. Pretty simple and it's a ton of fun. Bring family, friends, snacks and get ready to learn a bunch, share your expertise, and look at unique birds. To read more about Wholly H2O's BioBlitzes please visit this link. The event is sponsored by Wholly H2O. Wholly H2O catalyzes dynamic, informed connections between people and their watersheds that yield proactive and appropriate water management through conservation and reuse. Our watershed-positive educational programs engage Californians in community and citizen science, art, and green infrastructure education.