Salamanders, Frogs, and iNaturalist!

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Submitted by Carolyn Macek on Thu, 2017-06-08 00:00

 

We had a great morning with Dr. Chuck Peterson and Dr. Rick Williams at the O'Neal Nature preserve, an ecological preserve and research site owned by ISU.   We looked for herpetological specimens, insects, and plants to take pictures of and load into iNaturalist, a great app that allows you to record plants and animals that you find while you're out in your adventures!  The app records the GPS location, and submits the pictures to a pro who will help identify the species! 

A fun morning!

Comments

Shayne Hughes's picture

Submitted by Shayne Hughes on Thu, 2017-06-08 14:17

Chuck has come to my class several times to show the students local reptiles and amphibians. He puts on a great show, and loves the younger kids ethusiasm. He thinks every time he does a presentation to students he saves a snake. I love it! He is worth getting in touch with and asking if he can come to your classes. 

Carla Hansen's picture

Submitted by Carla Hansen on Thu, 2017-06-08 15:03

With all the run off this year and high water we are experiencing the return of the frogs in our area!  Love listening to them croak at night! Did you see many in the day time?

Carolyn Macek's picture

Submitted by Carolyn Macek on Fri, 2017-06-09 06:37

Unfortunately we were only able to catch one!  But we saw a few more!

Taylor Terlson's picture

Submitted by Taylor Terlson on Thu, 2017-06-08 15:06

This is fantastic! I'm so glad you guys had the opportunity to see so many species of amphibians. I cannot wait to see how we can incorporate amphibians into our classes next year! I especially love the picture of my two incredible teammates in the middle! Katy, your waders rock! 

Lora Hughes's picture

Submitted by Lora Hughes on Thu, 2017-06-08 15:34

How exciting that you all got a hands on approach to the habitats of our local amphibians. Conditions last year didn't allow us to experience that. As a family, we like to go frogging just to check them out. Nature is just better when you experience it first hand.

Michael Helman's picture

Submitted by Michael Helman on Thu, 2017-06-08 17:22

I think the number of different specimens that you collected so close to home in such a small area would blow the minds of many of our students.  Thanks for sharing.

Josh Nielsen's picture

Submitted by Josh Nielsen on Thu, 2017-06-08 23:07

I haven't done much with this program this year, but plan to do more. Sounds like a great resource and I love that an expert can then help you identify the species. I could have used that help numerous times in the backcountry while guiding. Wish I could attend Dr. Williams workshop on it next week. Cheers.