Using iNaturalist
Wendy Anderson, a Nature Tracker Biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, will show HLBWS members and guests the ins-and-outs of using the FREE iNaturalist app. This handy tool helps people to identify birds, pollinators, plants and other organisms. While the app helps users learn more about nature, the users’ observations, in turn, contribute to biodiversity science! iNaturalist shares the observations with the Global Diversity Information Facility (https://www.gbif.org/) to help scientists find and access the data. These data allow scientists and research mangers to better understand when and where organisms occur.
Members who are familiar with iNaturalist may want to take part in the ongoing Texas Pollinator BioBlitz, October 11-27. For more information about the BioBlitz, please go to https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/bioblitz.
Members who are not familiar with iNaturalist are asked to consider downloading the free app to their phones, iPads, or laptops, and bring their devices to the meeting.
Wendy Anderson holds MS degrees in Environmental Science and in Public Affairs focused in Applied Ecology from Indiana University. She has a passion for conservation and has focused her career on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), endangered species conservation, and flora and fauna surveys. As a Botanist and GIS Analyst/Botanist with the Landscape Ecology Program, she conducted botanical surveys throughout Texas, identified habitat for endangered species using remote sensing techniques, and provided technical training and presentations for citizen/community science projects.
The meeting will take place on Thursday, November 7, 2024, at the Burnet County Agri-Life Extension, 607 N. Vanderveer in Burnet. Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. for social time and light refreshments; the business meeting begins at 10:00 a.m.; and Wendy Anderson’s presentation follows at about 10:30 a.m. As always, visitors are welcome! Weather permitting, a pre-meeting bird walk will be held at Haley Nelson Park, 200 Garden Trail in Burnet, starting at 8:00 a.m. on November 7.
