September 7-9, 2018 a Bioblitz Is an Intense Period of Biological Surveying in an Attempt to Record All the Living Species Within a Designated Area

September 7-9, 2018 A BioBlitz is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists and volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a continuous time period (usually 24 hours). Wikipedia

All photos by S Milito unless otherwise noted. Purpose • To create a baseline of resource information with which to develop future natural and cultural resources and public use management strategies • To discover and celebrate the resources in our parks and open spaces • To find out what we have, what we need to protect, what we need to improve • To find out how Corral Bluffs changes over time- How will our observations be different in the future? • To involve the public in local science and nature experiences • To use the information gathered for education

Science brought to you by:

Science Team Leaders Fort Carson Colorado Parks and Wildlife Aiken Audubon Society Mile High Bugs US Fish & Wildlife TOPS Stewardship Rangers Private Sector Biologists Corral Bluffs Alliance

Public Displays Garden of the Gods Rangers Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Colorado Parks and Wildlife Pikes Peak Library District Green Team Florissant Fossil Beds Fountain Creek Water Sentinels Mile High Bugs Corral Bluffs Alliance

Technology and Data

All species are documented online at iNaturalist.com iNaturalist

Locations of each observation 7:00 AM Saturday

The Rangers • Rangers arrived at 6:00 AM each day to set up • Led hikes every hour on Saturday and Sunday • Approximately 100 hikers attended

The Rangers Mammal Team

Photo by Cody Bear Sutton Roger with white-footed mouse

Billy sharing porcupine needles Mammal Team: Bats

Photos by Rose DiCenso

Mist nets were strung across water to catch bats as they dipped in for a drink Mammals 15 Species

• Big Brown Bat • Hoary Bat • Eastern Red Bat • Silver Haired Bat • Bobcat • Porcupine • Jackrabbit • Cottontail Rabbit • Raccoon • Pronghorn • Mule Deer • Coyote • Deer Mouse • White-footed Mouse • Black-tailed Prairie Dog Star of the day: Porcupine Mammals

Black-tailed Prairie Dog (on neighboring property)

Mule Deer

Coyote Pronghorns Birds Scaled Quail in early morning fog Birds 87 Species

• Golden Eagle • Common Poorwill • Red-tailed Hawk • Ferruginous Hawk • Lark Bunting Rock Wren • Rock Wren • Sage Thrasher • Canyon Towhee • Green-tailed Towhee • Blue Grosbeak • Turkey Vulture Female Lark Bunting • Cooper’s Hawk (Colorado State Bird) • Northern Harrier

Say’s Phoebe Birds

Juvenile Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle nest Plant Team

Photo by Cody Bear Sutton Plants 169 Species

Colorado Four O’clocks • Prairie Coneflowers • Indian Paintbrush • Colorado Four O’clock • Blazingstar • Crownleaf Evening Primrose • Showy Milkweek • Beardtongue • Lupine Evening blooming flowers • Jame’s Buckwheat • Soapweek Yucca • Prickly Pear Cactus

Blazingstar

Evening Primrose Arthropod Team

Photo by Cody Bear Sutton Arthropods (Insects, spiders) 216 Species • Megacyllene angulifera- Longhorn Beetle • Sagebrush Sheep Moth • Monarch Butterfly • 2 species Thread-waisted Wasps • 2 species Beewolf wasps • Wolf Spider • Wind Scorpion • 23 species of grasshoppers

Megacyllene angulifera • First time recorded in iNaturalist • First record in El Paso County • Second record in Colorado • Four were found during bioblitz Sagebrush Sheep Moth Arthropods

Photo by Tim Leppek

Arthropods

Photo by Tim Leppek Herpetology Team

Lauren looking for spadefoot toad tadpoles

Max photographing a rattlesnake in the hole Reptiles & Amphibians 9 Species

• Prairie Lizard • Prairie Rattlesnake • Bullsnake • North American Racer • Plains Garter Snake • Terrestrial Garter Snake Prairie Rattlesnake • Woodhouse’s Toad • Texas Short-horned Lizard • Plains Spadefoot Toad North American Racer Photos by Lauren Livo Prairie Lizard

Juvenile Bullsnake Conclusions

• Corral Bluffs has a great diversity of plants and animals requiring protection • Wildlife corridors between open spaces need to be considered to avoid isolated “islands” of habitat • Biological inventory should be ongoing especially upon future purchases of land. The bioblitz provides data from a snapshot in time • Master planning of Corral Bluffs will require input from the science community • There is a great deal of public interest in Corral Bluffs and controlled hikes and other public events should be continued and encouraged

From 2014 Park System Master Plan: Candidate Open Space and Jimmy Camp Conceptual Open Space Corral Bluffs Network

Wildlife corridors

Bluestem Prairie Photo by Cody Bear Sutton