The Cayucos Land Conservancy invites you and your family to become “Citizen-Scientists”, documenting the plants and animals found at our very own Estero Bluffs State Park, a site protected by CLC's first conservation easement.
This is an activity that you can enjoy on your own or with your family & friends.
Participants help determine species' geographic distributions and population densities, monitor ecosystem health and most importantly, allow us to create a list of animals and plants found at our local treasure, Estero Bluffs State Park.
There is plenty of explanation on the iNaturalist website, but here are the 3 steps to begin:
Download the iNaturalist Application to your phone and set up your individual login. (They make it very easy.)
Second, while enjoying and exploring the Bluffs safely take pictures with your phone of animals and plants you encounter.
Third, upload the photos to iNaturalist, enter the approximate geographical location (very easy, with the App mapping feature), and try your best to identify the animal or plant (again very easy, with the App offering suggestions).
Once you have completed your entry the community at iNaturalist confirms, or suggests, other identifications right down to the species level.
It's that easy! Your photos, and accompanying location data, become part of an international survey of living creatures.
The Estero Bluffs State Park Project on I-Naturalist is up and running with over 100 “Observers” (visitors), recording hundreds of “Observations” (digital pictures), representing hundreds of species of Protists, Fungi, Plants, and Animals.
The identifications and verifications of these observations are accomplished by over 600 expert “Identifiers”. It is quite a community of people interested in the great biodiversity of the Estero Bluffs!
Animals observed have included Invertebrates such as Mollusks, Anemones, Sea Stars, Insects, Crustaceans (Crabs) and Vertebrates including species of Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds and Mammals.
Oyster Catcher, Estero Bluffs State Park
CLC Board Member Tom Seville has volunteered to lead us in this project. Please email Tom at tseville71@gmail.com with your iNaturalist User Name (Please, no passwords!) so he can track your photo submissions and build our species list for Estero Bluffs State Park.
If there is enough interest from our members, and once we are cleared to gather safely, we can schedule walks at the Bluffs to demonstrate how to use iNaturalist to further enjoy, understand and appreciate our beautiful State Park.
Again, let Tom know your iNaturalist user name (not your password) so that he can form our Estero Bluffs community (tseville71@gmail.com).
