Um, you’ve looked in my basement, haven’t you? ;-)
2 Likes
I live in a dense urban environment with concrete & grass yards and an aging/dying tree canopy that went decades without rejuvenation. My tiny front yard is 15 square metres. Years ago, I thought I would observe most species within a few weeks of searching, with the occasional seasonal butterfly as the seasons went by.
I had converted the yard from the previous owner’s Norway maple & bark chips (!) to a stuffed perennial garden (and kept that dreaded Norway maple). With so little space to garden and a passion for plants, I just planted more densely than recommended.
Over time, I’ve replaced plants with more pollinators and added more native species. I’ve never used sprays, but I have also stopped cutting back the perennials in the fall or clearing every fall leaf away with the goal of providing habitats and winter food.
I frequently find ‘new’ species in this 15 sq metre ecosystem. I believe it is a combination of all the above factors, and the fact that the garden is raised, so drains easily and hosts many overwintering insects.
Another positive impact of this wild garden is that it’s helped to influence neighbours to replace lawn with various versions of gardens. From full perennial gardens to barrels of plants all providing different habitats. And finally our city acknowledged that a yard without grass is not a bylaw infringement. My tiny yard’s ecosystem is now extended by neighbours. Children stop at my raised garden on the way home from school to search for snails or a new flower and to observe flower-specific bees that I’ve pointed out to them.
I still lack the equipment to photograph & identify the smallest bees that come, but I can identify many of the bees, hornets, wasps, hoverflies, moths, butterflies, leafhoppers, beetles & birds. With the help of inaturalist pros I have learned a lot. I can also document the first time and last time a plant blooms in a season. I am starting to see patterns in when species of bees appear. I can identify different behaviours of bee species. I can answer the question I get from many children: “What are you looking at?” Later, I hear them showing other children the secret.
I am still trying to understand why my 15 square metres is so much more diverse than many yards nearby, but definitely native species and mediterranean herbs are a factor. And only blocks from my house is a similar garden with insect species that I don’t find in my own garden nearby, which is puzzling.
I’ve photographed bees for people who have claimed their garden had none. Funnily enough, our city’s official bee is Agapostemon virescens, the brilliant green & bicoloured sweat bee, and I have yet to find someone who believes it’s a bee when I point one out. People don’t stop to see what is in their own gardens; sometimes it’s miraculous!
I encourage any student (like the one above with the high school camera ban) to pitch to their school admin that their school grounds are an ecosystem to be studied and more resources should be provided to do so. The unstructured trips our local elementary school took to the zoo always bothered me. I see now that the kids could have learned more in 1 square metre of forest on the school grounds. And that knowledge could have fostered independent discovery in a student’s own backyard or local park. Maybe it’s time to embed curriculums that entail observation & discovery in a small area.
10 Likes
No, but it sounds as if you have!
1 Like
Dear @invertebratist, I appreciate your issues. I was a naturalist from about age 8 when I first started collecting bugs … since I was the smallest on the block and typically was not chosen by either side for the stickball games held on my street. I went off an ripped apart rotten logs and surprise, I found the world of bugs. As an undergraduate I chose to go to school in New York City rather than Ithica NY which would hove been closer to nature. But the city has bugs and I would build an interest in those city dwellers. Cockroaches, centipedes and silverfish are fascinating in their own right and I would spend some time learning the denizens of your student lodgings and dwelling yards. 
6 Likes
I accidentally reared this hover fly (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/92471144) at work while trying to record the life cycle of another species (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90905407). In high school, I often recorded eBird checklists with one of my teachers.
2 Likes
Actually I was also home schooled when I was in Japan, and I was working on molluscs all day except a couple hours of studying. If I knew about Inaturalist at that time I could have made so many good observations…! :P
2 Likes
Welcome to the forum and thank you! I got into nature when I first started to pick up rocks and others when I was around 5 years old and my interest expanded to fossils, then recent animals which I am most passionate about now. Yes, definitely cockroaches, centipedes and silverfishes are really beautiful and fascinating. I recently enjoy walking at midnight to observe those bugs, in both urban and natural environments.
1 Like
Yes, that is very true. However, even after documented most of the visible organisms, I think I would still be able to have fun observing microscopic stuff in soil. Hopefully I can make a decent life list of the school property before I graduate my school in 2025 :)
2 Likes
I have the afternoons free but we do school work from 7.00am-4.30pm
1 Like
I’ve found some pretty interesting things at school over the years. I found my first ever Eastern American Toad in elementary school on the field one morning! Also worth noting was a massive Eastern Dobsonfly that had landed on the side of the school (still elementary) which someone unfortunately decided to flatten with a basketball. As of recent, I’ve actually found a dead shrew at my high school, which was pretty neat.
1 Like
I’m lucky to live in an area with many ponds, parks, open fields, and other natural environments. My current interests are in birds, which don’t have trouble maneuvering through urban areas. The diversity of species varies throughout the seasons, with some species even changing appearances during the year.
Spring is when many species begin to reemerge after the winter, such as Canada Geese and many flower species. Through the beginning of the Spring, most trees are still bare. Spring doesn’t really feel that long in Ontario, sometimes we go straight from winter to summer.
By summer, most species have returned, especially the insects. The invasive Japanese Beetle is a real sight to behold, and they’re everywhere! Sponge Moths too.
An interesting find specifically of summer 2021 was when Tent Moths finally returned to my backyard after years of absence. I have no idea why, but I’m happy that they were back. The larger caterpillars are really beautiful with their blue and orange patterning.
By late summer and early fall, Bumble and Honey Bees arrive in our garden. Everyday, they can be seen pollinating in great numbers. In the backyard, Yellow Jackets feed on the fallen apples of our trees. Rarely, a few Bald-Faced Hornets come too. There’s also a massive ant hill in the back. The ants seem to ‘run’ everything, they can be seen relocating dirt, removing the dead, and carrying other insects to the colony.
There’s also 3 bird feeders, attracting a few bird species. The most regular residences are American Gold Finches with House Sparrows not to far behind. Other commonly seen birds include a Northern Cardinal couple, a Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and most surprisingly a Mourning Dove!
The Mourning Dove, which we named Nugget is one of my favourite songbirds in Canada. Nugget is male, and soon came back with a female. Later, a third dove appeared, another male. I love them so much! Their calls are very distinctive.
One funny occurrence in the backyard is when we tried to plant grass seeds. Out of nowhere, a flock of Common Grackles came down and ate all the seeds! They haven’t been in our yard since and we’re not planting grass anytime soon!
When fall is reaching it’s end, the few Double-Crested Cormorants leave. The bees also make off. From here, most species vanish, but not the Mallards. During winter and fall, the males are in their breeding plumage, green heads and all.
A few other species make short appearances during this time, like the Hooded Merganser and Bufflehead. Dark-Eyed Juncos last a bit longer and can still be found during the winter.
It’s currently winter where I live, and most species aren’t active. The few that I see somewhat regularly in the winter are Ring-Billed Gulls, Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, American Crows, Mallards, House Sparrows, and European Starlings. The last two are invasive to Canada.
The crows in particular seem to have the most personality. They mostly stay in the trees, preferring not to walk on the concrete.There are around 5 of them, and they protect their territory fiercely, chasing away a Common Raven and even a Red-Tailed Hawk. They’re here all year long.
Even during a time of little wildlife activity, I still find joy in looking over the snow-covered landscapes, waiting for the day everyone reappears. The pines don’t change during winter, it’s nice having them around.
3 Likes
Urban areas still hold a lot of life, you just have to look.
3 Likes
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
2 Likes
Of the species I mentioned, here are the one’s I’ve been able to get photos of.
Canada Goose
Japanese Beetle - Invasive
Spongy Moth (LD Moth) - Invasive
Common Eastern Bumble Bee
German Yellowjacket - Invasive
House Sparrow - Invasive
Northern Cardinal
Blue Jay
Mourning Dove (Nugget)
Double-crested Cormorant
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
Dark-eyed Junco
Ring-Billed Gull
American Crow (With Audio)
European Starling - Invasive
Bonus - American Black Duck × Mallard
1 Like
To share another example, that’s my route from a bus stop to university, not many birds because I usually only had my phone with me, but enough species to prove you can iNat anywhere even if you can’t really stop to do that.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=55.825328436610434&nelng=37.660553690633336&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=55.81206770741553&swlng=37.598000285919355&user_id=marina_gorbunova
1 Like
Whoa, that is a lot of observations! Thanks for sharing.
I have just started observing everything in January (until that I was only looking for molluscs) and so I have only seen about 50 species within my route to the college I go, but I have been trying to increase the number in these days.
1 Like
Thanks for sharing! I am quite familiar with Japanese beetle since I saw them almost every time I went outside when I was in Japan. It’s disappointing to know that they are being invasive in your country, they are so tough…
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.