DIY Earth Week Berkshire BioBlitz!

DIY Earth Week Berkshire BioBlitz!

This year for Earth Week (the week surrounding Earth Day), we invite you to join us in a do-it-yourself BioBlitz around Berkshire County.

Wherever you are in Berkshire County, take this opportunity to help us get a snapshot of life here right now. This event is week-long, running from midnight on Saturday, April 17 to 11:59pm on Sunday, April 25, 2021. We invite participants with all levels of experience and expertise.

Participation is easy!

Plants, bugs, fungi, lichens, and animals: submit observations through our iNaturalist project. (iNaturalist requires a free account, learn more here.) Feel free to participate solo or form small teams, whatever strategy people are comfortable with and will help yield the greatest number of species!

Birds: submit your observations to eBird in the same way you normally would; afterwards, share any checklists you would like to have as a part of the BioBlitz with BEAT’s eBird account ([email protected]) so it can be officially included. Feel free to participate solo or form small teams, whatever strategy people are comfortable with and will help yield the greatest number of bird species!

To help people get out bird watching, BEAT Stewardship Manager Noah Henkenius will be hosting two bird walks that week. One will be at the Wild Acres Conservation Area in Pittsfield on Saturday, April 17 starting at 7 am, and another at Brielman Marsh in Pittsfield on Thursday April 22 starting at 7 am. Both walks will be weather dependent and people must RSVP to [email protected] as we will be limiting attendance to 7 participants for Covid safety and to ensure there is enough parking.

Questions? Email [email protected] and we’ll help you out! Click here to see last year’s Berkshire BioBlitz results.

iNaturalist and eBird are particularly easy to use resources for the beginner naturalist, and both have web-page and free mobile app forms.