NERDS
FOR
NATURE

Complete Nerd 2016: McLaren Park & McClellan Ranch

This year, the SF chapter will be bioblitzing, change-monitoring, audio-recording, trail mapping, and DNA-analyzing all over McLaren Park, using as many different skills as we can to make as complete a picture as we can of San Francisco's second-largest city park. Scroll down for super high-res zoomable panoramic images, selected iNaturalist observations from our bioblitz, nature soundscape recordings made in the park, and an overview map collecting all our efforts. Join our Meetup group to get in the loop on future efforts. There's more to come! And now we're gathering ideas in this Google Doc. Add yours!

The Silicon Valley chapter will do the same down at McClellan Ranch Preserve in Cupertino. On May 1, they held their first bioblitz.

Bringing it all together

McLaren Park

McClellan Park

April 2016 Citizen Science Day McLaren Bioblitz!

On April 16, 2016, about 80 people turned out for our second-ever McLaren Park grassroots bioblitz.

Nerds for Nature, Save McLaren Park, and California Academy of Sciences put together the blitz, building on the model that we pioneered in May 2013 that's since fueled dozens of blitzes around the region (especially thanks to Cal Academy's citizen science team!). SF Parks and Rec helped get the word out and SF Unified School District's June Jordan School for Equity provided a perfect spot for the wrap session, where we tallied up results. Below are just a few of the 1300+ observations we made. Check out the full results, stats, and map over on the iNaturalist project page.

May 1 McClellan Bioblitz!

On May 1, 2016, about 30 people turned out for our first-ever McClellan Ranch Preserve Bioblitz.

We teamed up with the City of Cupertino and were thrilled to have local students and folks from the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail and Sequoia Audubon Society out with us. Check out the full results, stats, and map over on the iNaturalist project page.

Want to host your own grassroots bioblitz?
It's not hard and we've got a 10-step guide right over here!

McLaren GigaPan Photos

While we were blitzing, Nature Nerd Dan Sherman brought out his amazing gigapan photo rig and created some super high-resolution panorama images of the park. Check them out!

McLaren Soundscapes by the Nature Sounds Society

Dan Dugan and Sharon Perry of the Nature Sounds Society visited McLaren just after dawn and recorded the Dawn Chorus in several locations. Natural soundscapes are incredibly important to document, delightful to hear, and always imperiled by the sounds of our city. We're thrilled to have the Nature Sound Society's support in documenting McLaren Park.