In November 2014 (during the World Parks Congress Public Festival ‘Planetfest‘) over 500 children, scientists, naturalists, and World Parks Congress participants from Australia and around the globe, gathered at Cathy Freeman Park to take part in the largest species audit of Sydney’s Olympic Park. The BioBlitz proved a success as one of the first major public facing citizen science events run by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
Citizen scientists worked together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals and other organisms as possible. They braved the Sunday morning wind and rain conditions, to help experts compile a census of species in Sydney Olympic Park spotting birds, spiders, insects, water bugs and a plethora of other species using the iNaturalist app on their smartphones.
224 observations were made during the blitz, with many of the invertebrate species identified being logged in that area for the first time ever. To find out more about the species spotted on the day check out iNaturalist event page.
A National Geographic film crew was there on the day capturing all the excitement and interviewing participants about their experience. Check out the video summary of the day below.
The Atlas of Living Australia supports a range of citizen science events and encourages people from all walks of life to join in on the fun of discovering and documenting the diverse forms of life in our diverse ecosystems.
For more information on this successful event, please visit the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage website.