Birds, Bugs, Botany and Beyond: Vermont Hosts a BioBlitz

HARTFORD, Vt. – Everything from bacteria to bobcats was in play when scientists and naturalists converged near the Ottaquechee River on June 25 and 26 for a BioBlitz – a race against time to identify every living organism at the site in just 24 hours.

Organized by the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS), the BioBlitz was part science, part education, and a lot of fun. It was described as the greatest gathering of biologists, nature enthusiasts and inquisitive visitors ever assembled in the state.

“This will be 24 hours of high-energy, non-stop biology,” Bryan Pfeiffer, a consulting naturalist working with VINS to organize the BioBlitz, said at the start of the event. “If it walks, flies, swims, slithers, wriggles, squirms or even just sits there, we'll be looking for it.”

The BioBlitz survey period ran from 3 p.m. on Friday, June 25, to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 26. The official BioBlitz survey site included the new VINS preserve in Quechee, the adjoining Quechee State Park, as well as contiguous land owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers along the Ottauquechee River (including the famed Quechee Gorge).

Scientists from across New England attended, and from as far away as Virginia. Botanists roamed the woods, fields, wetlands and other natural communities looking for everything from oaks to orchids. Birdwatchers spotted warblers, woodpeckers and whatever else they could find. The moth and bat crews were busy through the night. The BioBlitz even attracted experts in ants, lichens and zooplankton.

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The 2004 BioBlitz concluded with a cook-out supper for participants on Saturday evening, during which VINS produced a grand total of the species encountered during the 24-hour period—1,717 in all. The results will also soon be available on the BioBlitz web site: www.vinsweb.org/BioBlitz.

BioBlitz sponsors included the Vermont Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation's Northeastern Field Office, the Vermont Entomological Society, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

While the identification of various plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, algae and other odd organisms was largely left to scientists, the VINS BioBlitz also invited the public as well. On Saturday, VINS staff and volunteers offered guided walks of the BioBlitz site and other activities. In short, the event was a grand celebration of biological diversity and discovery.

“This is a celebration of the diversity of life in Vermont,” said Pfeiffer, who divided his own time between fireflies, butterflies and dragonflies during the BioBlitz. “And we hope to continue the tradition at a different site in Vermont each year.”

The Vermont BioBlitz thanks the members and trustees of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science as well as the following businesses for their support:

Cabot Creamery Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Halleluia Bakers Hollister Hill Farm Keeper Springs Macs Market Plainfield Food Coop Price Chopper Shaws South Woodstock Country Store Umpbley's Bakery Vermont Country Store Woodstock Cookies Woodstock Farmer's Market