The conservation of pollinators underscores broader ethical considerations regarding humanity's connection with nature. Pollinators are sentient beings capable of experiencing pleasure, pain, and suffering and, they merit ethical regard and empathetic care. Prioritizing pollinator conservation upholds environmental ethics, fosters reverence for non-human existence, and nurtures a balanced coexistence between humans and the wider ecosystem.

When valuing the intrinsic significance of the natural world, conserving pollinators becomes imperative for biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and acknowledging the interconnectedness of species. Acknowledging the deep value of pollinator species and their ecological functions enhances our understanding of the planet's beauty, intricacy, and variety, motivating a shared dedication to safeguard and preserve the environment for generations to come.

Remember to take time and observe and encourage others to join. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/world-bee-day-week-2024
MAY 17, 2024 - MAY 23, 2024

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/world-bee-day-week-2024

I've got a little bioblitz project I've started that people may be interested in:

World Bee Day/Week 2024
May 17, 2024 - May 23, 2024
In recognition of Bees and all of the other pollinators.

I've noticed that 21% of the observations posted to Footzoom are of organisms that qualify as pollinators . These are posted by 62% the Footzoom Project members. So, I thought being aware of this bioblitz may be of interest.

Pollinators visit flowers to drink plant nectar or eat and gather pollen and transport pollen as they move about. These actions can result in the fertilization of host plants. Bees in particular do this but so do other invertebrates such as butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and wasps as well as vertebrates such as birds, bats, and small mammals.

To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day.

The observation timing for this project has been spread to cover a week to allow as many pollinator enthusiasts as possible a chance to go out and observe.

Best Regards,
Bob

iNaturalist user, Simon Rolph @simonrolph, has designed a tool, "Easily missed", to help other users fill in local data gaps of easily missed species one might find close to a chosen location. The app suggests species that have been recorded within 5km of your given location but have not been recorded with 1km of where you are.

Footzoomers may find this handy to add missions to their explorations and add new species to their Life List. The flexibility of this tool has grown since first introduced. There is a discussion with Simon on the Forum found here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/a-tool-to-help-you-fill-local-data-gaps-easily-missed

Hope this adds a little fun to your New Year.

In recent months the membership grew to 354 members but so far only 149 members have managed to add their observations to the project.

Manual addition needs to be done for each observation that is to be included in a traditional project. Because how to do this is not obvious for many, I made the tutorial for adding observations to a traditional project: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/adding-observations-to-a-traditional-project-wiki/13190

You can go back and add older qualifying observations into the project.

If you have any questions about the Footzoom project, do not hesitate to ask me.

If anyone knows iNat members that are living beyond Europe and North America, please encourage them to join. It would be fantastic to see more observations that are occurring in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America.

Thank you,
Stay Healthy, Happy, and Safe!
Bob

There have been many new members to Footzoom in the last month or so.

I look forward to seeing the addition of your observations to the Footzoom project when you find the time to do them manually. Unfortunately, manual addition needs to be done for each observation that is to be included in a traditional project. Because how to do this is not obvious for many, I made the tutorial for adding observations to a traditional project: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/adding-observations-to-a-traditional-project-wiki/13190

You can go back and add older qualifying observations into the project.

If you have any questions about the Footzoom project, do not hesitate to ask me.

Thank you,
Stay Healthy, Happy, and Safe!
Bob

Hope life is treating everyone well.

This note goes to those who have access to the marine world. Just thought I would let you know about the World Oceans Week 2022 project. Jun 3, 2022 - Jun 12, 2022 https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/world-oceans-week-2022

https://unworldoceansday.org/ 1 8 June, 2022

We would love for you join and participate in this bioblitz.

I'll keep a look out for any terrestrial equivalent.

Best regards,
Bob

Hello and welcome all. I have a slideshow here for you that shows at random some of the observations made by Footzoom project members.

There has been a noticeable increase in members of this project since May 14th, 2022 when iNaturalist User and fellow Footzoomer @fluffyinca mentioned Footzoom on the "What are your favorite projects?" post on the iNaturalist forum. Since then the project has been featured on the Projects page. Prior to this recognition there were 58 members - now 9 days later we have 125 members. If anything this gives me hope and shows me what the power of one person can do in process of recognizing something that is important to them. In its simplest form the projects asks that you recognize and enjoy the nature around you while keeping your carbon footprint at the low end of the scale - maybe instead of taking a car 150km to the mountains, take a hike around your neighbourhood and experience what you can. Or maybe that car ride has never been a choice and the Footzoom badge celebrates the reach of your exploration.

I try to contact new members to encourage the manual addition that traditional projects such as this one require. But in case you have missed or misplaced it, I wrote a tutorial on the forum: Adding Observations to a Traditional Project - Wiki This is not complete but a work in process.

https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_observation_grid_widget.html?order_by=votes&place_id=any&project_id=footzoom&columns=20&rows=10&view=species

Yogyakarta, Indonesia resident Naufal Urfi Dhiya'ulhaq (@naufalurfi) was recognized in a blog written by @tiwane : March 11, 2021 Identifier Profile: @naufalurfi

We have been proud to have him as member since May 21, 2020 and he has contributed 4,262 observations via Footzoom, well representing the environment in which he lives.

Congratulation on the blog article.

https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNatAPIv1_observations_species_counts.html?project_id=footzoom
For those who wish to create a species list. It takes a few seconds to generate once you are there.