Community Science

2024 Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count

Held in unseasonably mild weather on December 29, 2024, the 65th annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count tallied 129 species and 21,408 individual birds.

2024 MVAL Year in Review

2024 was a great year for the Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life, with a range of successful events, important research projects, growing use of the iNaturalist platform, and a wealth of important plant and animal discoveries.

MVAL Adds New “Data Explorer”

The MVAL website has added a powerful new tool for exploring Martha’s Vineyard natural history records: an easy-to-use “data explorer” that searches the huge Global Biodiversity Information Facility database.

2024 Correllus State Forest Bioblitz

Held July 19-20, 2024, our second bioblitz of Correllus State Forest tallied more than 300 species across this incredible, 5,300-acre property owned and managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

2024 Bioblitz at Long Point

At this year’s Long Point Wildlife Refuge bioblitz, held June 28-29, 2024, observers compiled more than 600 iNaturalist observations and tallied about 340 species.

MVAL in iNaturalist: 2022 Year in Review

2022 was a great year for the Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life! A big part of our success has been the growing use of iNaturalist by naturalists on the Vineyard. Here’s a summary of our 2022 iNat activity.

When Life Gives You Mussels, Take Photos

iNaturalist helps two alert observers identify a freshwater mussel from a West Tisbury pond. Almost nothing seems to be known about these shellfish on the Vineyard.

Monarch Butterflies – How Endangered Are They?

This iconic orange-and-black butterfly is widely assumed to be at risk of extinction. But Monarch biology is complex, with different populations exhibiting different ecology, and some research suggests that the situation is less dire than widely believe.

Long Point Bioblitz, June 17-18, 2022

BiodiversityWorks, the Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life, and The Trustees of Reservations team up for an intensive survey – a “bioblitz” – of Long Point Wildlife Refuge.