Life of Lake Frederick's Boletim

In no small part to @billmoore and his interest in cataloging insects and plants, we have seen a huge uptick in distinct species. We've also seen a large increase in overall LF nature observations, we are well over 1000 now. That's enough that we are starting to be able to easily know what people will likely see as they enter the trail, and I might have to build some guide lists ("5 most common flowers on the LF trail"). As a researcher I know that what we observe may not map to the actual distribution of what life is present, but a huge part of iNat for me is helping beginners get oriented. If we can give someone a list of five things they are guaranteed to observe on any walk, they may start to see the forest as a collection of old friends :-)

There are far too many new species for me to make a good pick as to what is unique, but I see we have now identified almost all major flowering plants at LF. We obviously have a looong way to go for insects. A few new species of frog were identified, and I was lucky to spot our first recorded bat.

Thanks to everyone for their observations and interest in nature :-)

We've found 60 new species in just 3 months!

The bulk of the new material seems to be common, but not yet recorded, species. This is great news for folks using the project as a guide to what's nearby in Lake Frederick - recording these common species can help to educate folks on what they can see during that first walk along the trail. This is exactly why this project was created - to help interested naturalists at the lake get a head start by learning one or two things and feeling the excitement of walking through a forest full of old acquaintances.

Without further ado, here are some of newly recorded common inhabitants. Learn these by heart and you'll any lake visitors by knowing seemingly 100% of everything that lives nearby ;-)

• Plants & tree recordings (Black Willow, Pignut Hickory, Chestnut Oak, Virginia Creeper, Japanese Stiltgrass, Helmet Skullcap, and more)
• Milky Slug (distinct from our frequent Leopard Slug)
• Green Heron (smaller cousin to the noble Great Blue Heron's)
• Green Russula (a common mushroom, but slightly less common than it's red cousins)
• Common Gray Moth
• Viper's Bugloss (a beautiful and notable plant when flowering!)
• Pickerel Frog

With a bit of rainy weather and a good hike through the woods, all the fungi popped up overnight and pushed us past 200 unique species. Over 10 new mushroom species in one hike :-)

With the help of our local facebook groups, we also have tons of the nearby birds finally being represented with good photographs.

Best,
Hamilton

With the recent addition of a new subproject "Fungi of Lake Frederick" we've just jumped past 150 distinct species!! With over 200 observations, we are starting to get a decently representative sample of the lake. Clearly deer and turkey are prominent members of our community, followed closely by fish and bird species. We have more observations of animals than plants, but currently American Sycamore is leading the charge, with Garlic Mustard spiking in the winter months (the deer wont eat it, so the forest floor starts to look "covered in GM" as they munch away the other undergrowth). Our new fungi category has opened up a few lichens, polypores, and puffballs.

Thanks to everyone that has participated - every observation helps!

• Hamilton

Just under 6months since our last update, and what a change! We've more than doubled the species count (up to 125 from 40) and we now have over 10 observers contributing from around the lake. I'm learning a ton from the observations, and can't wait to see what surprises the fall season brings us. I expect the Turkeys, Goose, and Cardinals will finally overtake Evergreen Bagworm Moth in number of observations. We may also see an uptick in observations of plant life as the trees become more vibrant.

Fun fact for 6 months - I think we have now cataloged most of the fish species in the lake with our new additions of Grass Carp, Northern Pike, Green Sunfish, Redear, and Pumpkinseed. These were added in addition to the existing Channel Catfish, Bluegill, and Bass. Unfortunately, we also added an observation of Northern Snakehead, and had a visit from VDGIF to catalog the lake. As far as I know, we are still in the single-digits of Snakehead, but multiple fry schools have been observed. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort - multiple folks from Facebook (residents and fishermans groups) as well as iNaturalist participated.

Best,
Hamilton

What a great milestone, and only about five (winter) months after this project was first started! We really appreciate the broader iNaturalist community for providing quick help identifying observations, and the technical team for making a great website+app available for free!

Thanks also go out to the Facebook group "Residents of Lake Frederick", where many members have allowed us to re-share their Facebook posts onto iNaturalist.