An initiative of
SPONSORS
EVENT PARTNERS
The Wildlife you will Discover
The Event Locations
NatureKeepers BioBlitz08 is based out of five specially selected Sydney parks all offering a wealth of natural habitats to survey including wetlands, grasslands, mangroves, woodlandsand salt marshes.
SYDNEY PARK
GLEBE FORESHORE PARKS
OBSERVATORY HILL PARK
CENTENNIAL PARK
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK
The Wildlife you will Discover
Some of the species you will be exploring and surveying are birds, bats, possums, frogs, lizards, insects, spiders, snakes and a large variety of botanical species (flora).
How to Participate
To participate in BioBlitz08 you need to register for your preferred park and
survey session time. 
To make it easy for you to choose we have conveniently programmed seven, 2-hourly survey sessions commencing at 5.00am through until 8.00pm at Sydney Park, Glebe Foreshore Parks and Centennial Park. Sydney Olympic Park and Observatory Park Hill survey sessions have slightly different schedules so please plan accordingly.
Choose just one park and survey session, or as many as you like! - some park survey sites are a considerable distance apart, so make sure you allow enough travel time between them if you select sessions in more than one park.
On event day we will team you up with a dedicated Team Leader expert who will lead you on your chosen educational exploration. Team Leaders will offer each group, hands-on instruction and assistance with easy to use methods for finding the range of plant and animal wildlife, identifying and recording them onto simple survey data sheets.
Why don't you register your own team of friends, family or work colleagues? Everyone is welcome and no experience is necessary!
The Experts
All of BioBlitz08 Team Leaders are scientific experts, educators, naturalists, natural resource managers or trained NatureKeepers, skilled in the scientific disciplines of Botany (flora /plants), Mammals, Invertebrates (Spiders and Insects), Herpetology (Frogs and Reptiles) and Ornithology (Birds).
Your Team Leader's role will be to inform you about the particular species you are about to survey, about their habitat, teach you how surveys are conducted and then activley involve you in searching, identifying and logging statistics about your findings onto data sheets.
Survey Sessions
Please see the Event Locations page for the updated survey session times and locations.
Sessions have been designed to give you the best opportunity of finding and recording the target species.
The
Surveys
You don't need any previous experience or knowledge about biodiversity surveys or flora and fauna species. We will team you up with an expert Team Leader who will accompany you to guide, inform, and assist you each step of the way.
The experts will be using a combination of comprehensive survey methods to locate the range of species. This 24 hour BioBlitz of survey will indicate many of the plants and animals present, providing a basis for further research and information for better natural areas management.
The survey methodologys we will be applying to BioBlitz08 have been adopted, in principle, from the Community BioDiversity Survey Manual 3rd Edition. The Manual is a joint initiative of National Parks Association of NSW and the Department of Environment and Climate Chanage (NSW). Copies of the Manual are available from the NatureKeepers website at http://www.naturekeepers.org.au.
Survey Methods and Equipment
You will use various scientific survey methods and equipment depending on the
scientific discipline you are surveying. As with all flora and fauna surveys,
we may find that anticipated species are not present on the day, however
this result is just as valuable in terms of establishing what wildlife is present.
Examples of methods and equipment you will be using to find your selected species
are>
Mammals: Sign search; Scat collection; 'Anabat' detectors; and Opportunistic sightings; Spotlighting; and Nocturnal call playback
Frogs and Reptiles: Daytime searches; Opportunistic sightings; Systematic frog call recognition; Nocturnal streamside searches
Birds: Opportunistic sightings; Call playback
Flora: (plants) Opportunistic sightings
Spiders, Insects and Invertebrates: Opportunistic; Systematic searches; Light trapping, Spider web identification, Yellow pans
** NOTE: We recommend that if at all possible you bring along your own binoculars, or hand glass, or torchlights depending on which survey you choose, as we cannot guarantee that there will be one set available per person. Alternatively you may need to share the use of certain equipment with others in your group.
What you should bring on the day
Being an outdoor event, it will be susceptible to the weather. The event will still go ahead if it rains, so come prepared with raincoat and weatherproof shoes. Strong weather and winds, however, may prevent the event from occuring. It is recommended that you check the BioBlitz website the night prior to the event or on the Sunday morning for further advice.
Hats,
sunscreen, long sleeved shirts, long pants and closed in shoes are highly recommended
as a prevention from sunburn or the cold, and from scratches from bushes or
insect bites while conducting your survey.
Bring your own water bottles and snacks. Food or beverages stalls will not be available at any of the BioBlitz08 base (meeting points) sites and access to outlets may not be in close proximity.
If you have registered for a 5.00am or a 6.00pm survey session, it is recommended that you bring along your own torch and binoculars, as we cannot guarantee that there will be one available for each person. Othewise of survey equipment will need to be shared between others in your group.
If you have registered for a plant survey, you may want to bring along your own hand glass.
Photos courtesy of National Geographic