Diario del proyecto Erie MetroParks

July was a hot month. There were lots of observations, particularly with insects as butterflies and moths became more active. You will also see more evidence from our AHDriFT system study that we have on loan from the Ohio Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (OHPARC). You can learn more about the Erie MetroParks AHDriFT Project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/erie-metroparks-ahdrift-project

We did hit a couple of milestones this month. Firstly, we now have over 10,000 observations in our project. Incredible! Secondly, @mikehensley75 exceeded 1,000 species! Amazing!

There were no new members to our project this month. If you know of anyone that may be interested, please direct them to our page!
 
The project increased from 9005 to 10333 observations (+1328), 1833 to 1880 species (+47), while the number of observers increased from 181 to 187 (+6).
 
Our number of Research Grade observations increased from 5766 to 6321 (+555). This equates to a Research Grade percentage of 61.17% (down from 64.03%).
 
In total, there were 1327 observations added to the project this month. The observations include 738 insects, 278 reptiles, 218 mammals, 38 arachnids, 20 birds, 15 plants, 6 fungi, and 2 molluscs.
 
Of these, there were 340 species recorded. Common garter snake was the species observed the most (252 occasions), followed by Northern short-tailed shrew (83), and North American deer mouse (68).
 
The observations came from 16 observers. The top 5 observers were @mikehensley75 (579), @eriemetroparks (540), @martyndrabik (173), @crosscountrycoach (8), and @billsiebert (6).
 
The top observations of the month include:
Great spangled fritillary - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175637355
Common candy-striped spider - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175319758
Margined leathering beetle - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/174607248
Autumn meadowhawk - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175839173
Pennsylvania ambush bug - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175968504

Thank you to everyone for contributing to the project.
 
~ Martyn