During the week of October 17th-23rd last year, FMSA participated in Black in Natural History Museums Week, a virtual event developed and launched by Adania Flemming and her team that engaged Black academics around the world in community and love for the natural world. During this event, FMSA planned and held a series of Bioblitzes in city parks throughout Gainesville to celebrate cultural and biotic diversity, engage the public in natural history, and give our students the opportunity to get outside and get in touch with the natural world we sometimes compartmentalize and abstract in our research. Because different individuals helped lead each blitz, the organisms highlighted each day were varied and the overall breadth of taxa seen was astounding! It was also very heartening to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new ones during these walks.
We held the first blitz on Tuesday, Oct. 19th in the Natural Area Teaching Laboratory on campus, and we were joined by museum photographer Jeffrey Gage who took some wonderful photos of us as we documented the biodiversity of the park. Aditi Jayarajan and Adania Flemming had brought along macro lens attachments for their smartphones and took some wonderfully detailed photos of seasonally blooming wildflowers, interesting lichens, and any insects that hadn’t yet shut down activity in the cool weather!
The following morning, we met up for our second Bioblitz at Boulware Springs Park and followed the Hawthorne Trail into the scrubby, upland side of Sweetwater Preserve. On this particular day, Liz Hurtado lent her keen eyes and binoculars to our walk and we were able to follow a mixed foraging flock of Fall migrants including a Baltimore Oriole and a Painted Bunting! The cloudless sky and cool breeze made this a beautiful day to be out on the trail, so it was no surprise when we saw a large Yellow Rat Snake crossing the path as we made our way back to the parking lot.
On Thursday, Taliesin Kinser and Allison Bordini led a group through the trails at Morningside Nature Center where they recorded a botanical bounty of blooming Blazing-Stars, Blue Curls, and Bonesets. The upland meadows were ablaze with purples, whites, and yellows, painting a perfect picture of Gainesville in the Fall.
Friday saw a large turnout of museum graduate students gather at Alfred A. Ring Park for an evening stroll along the Hogtown Creek. Hearts-a-Bustin hung their small red fruits like Christmas ornaments along the trail and Carolina Wrens chattered noisily in the understory as we walked, but on this occasion we found ourselves paying more attention to each other than the organisms as we enjoyed the feeling of getting together as a group for the first time in what felt like ages. So caught up were we in catching up, that it wasn’t long before a pair of Barred Owls hinted at the lateness of the hour with their distinctively haunting calls, escorting us out of the forest like bar owners trying to close up shop for the night.
Our last Bioblitz took place on Saturday, Oct. 23rd at Depot Park with the focus being on engaging the wider Gainesville community. Although it was not quite Halloween, I did not hesitate to wear a very funny costume in the hopes of piquing the public’s interest in our blitz. Sure enough, once Stephanie Wheeler and I met up at Depot Park, it didn’t take long before people started coming over to ask some questions. One family in particular kept us company for most of the afternoon, and we were very grateful to hear the stories of the mother, a woman named Jean, who had raised five awesome kids all on her own! We then got to teach them about the Florida Softshells swimming in the pond, and the kids got a kick out of watching a male Yellow-Bellied Slider tickle the face of a larger female in an attempt to woo her! All told, it was a great experience for all, and I went home feeling richer, as well as quite a bit sweaty from wearing a big inflatable alien costume.
With that, the Bioblitzes were all wrapped up, and our project on iNaturalist reached almost 300 observations and 188 species! Although the organisms had been fascinating and beautiful, it was the people I got to see, meet, and spend time with that really made this event memorable. I felt that my enjoyment of each walk was magnified and multiplied by the folks I walked with, not just because they saw and knew things I hadn’t, but because through their eyes I was reminded of how amazing the natural world is, and how much joy we can experience just walking through it. Sometimes we researchers get so caught up in explaining and dissecting the natural world that we forget that something doesn’t always need to be understood to be enjoyed.
I’d like to thank Adania Flemming and the organizing team for Black in Natural History Museums for planning and putting on this much-needed event, and giving us the opportunity to host these Bioblitzes! I’d also like to thank all the folks that participated in the blitzes, especially the graduate students who volunteered their time to help lead the walks: Aditi Jayarajan, Adania Flemming, Liz Hurtado, Taliesin Kinser, Allison Bordini, Abby Uehling, Ashley Hamersma, Maria Beatriz de Souza Cortez, and Stephanie Wheeler.
Written by Gabriel Somarriba
See our photos of organisms in the Black in Natural History Museums iNaturalist Project! – https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2021-blackinnhms-bioblitz
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