Editor\u2019s Note: This article was written for Mosaic, an independent journalism training program for high school students who report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.<\/p>\n
Camera in hand, Kim Smith was capturing a bird in flight, appreciating the vibrant contrast between the blue and black feathers. Soon after, she was filming another bird she had never encountered before.<\/p>\n
\u201dI\u2019ve got a Steller\u2019s jay just now, and then another one whose name I don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. But then the answer suddenly came to her. \u201cOh, it was a grosbeak, which I\u2019ve never seen before. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing those pictures up close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith was one of the participants engaging in a \u201cBioBlitz\u201d held June 14 at Alum Rock Park in San Jose. Sponsored by Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful, the BioBlitz encourages participants to find and identify as many species as possible in a specific area at their own speed.<\/p>\n
Silas McDermott was there with his daughter, Mia McDermott. He listed several of their sightings. \u201cWe have some good bugs down here, like some sort of butterfly or moth,\u201d he said. Also within the bug kingdom, \u201cSome ants we found earlier were interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if they\u2019d encountered anything surprising, he mentioned \u201csome sort of holly-leaf cherry tree, and that\u2019s cool. I didn\u2019t know there were any cherries around here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful is a nonprofit that works with community groups, public agencies and students in an effort to restore the creek. It sponsors cleanups, plantings, recreational and cultural activities and educational partnerships.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s website describes the creek as an essential element of the South Bay habitat: \u201cIt is over 64 miles long and is the largest watershed in Santa Clara County. Its headwaters are in Henry Coe Park, and it runs through Morgan Hill, Gilroy, downtown San Jose and into San Francisco Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biodiversity of Coyote Creek \u201cis an indicator of the health of the environment, and a BioBlitz is a way for us to document and observe what biodiversity looks like,\u201d said Jessica Ruppert, the organization\u2019s event coordinator. \u201cSo when we return to these various parks year over year, we can see trends that occur, and changes that might happen, such as seeing an invasive species pop up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group tries to make the event a family affair. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for families to get their kids out of the house,\u201d said N\u00e9stor De la O Vargas, an organization event assistant. \u201cParents naturally want their kids to be out and about \u2026 People walking around, having a little nature walk, is better than just scrolling on TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n
The BioBlitz is aided by naturalists who help guide participants through the variety of plants and wildlife.<\/p>\n
The variety can be impressive, Ruppert said. \u201cJust recognizing that there\u2019s so much diversity here. There was a woman that came by and we had these little pamphlets that have examples of different things you can find here, and she was like, \u2018You can find all of those here?\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Yes! Yes, you can, and more. This is just a very small sample.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
That \u201csmall sample\u201d was literally true for Smith. \u201dThe insects that I found on one leaf\u2026I tilted the leaf up, and in one little cluster we saw two or three different insects, some egg casings, some larvae,\u201d she said. \u201cIn this one-inch area, there\u2019s all of this life going on.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt makes you realize how much is happening that\u2019s not visible to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agamjot Aulakh is a member of the class of 2027 at James Logan High School in Union City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note: This article was written for Mosaic, an independent journalism training program for high school students who…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[23119,407,746,21600,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-26349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alum-rock","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114770683256847654","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}