The Intermountain Bird Observatory is looking for volunteers to help us collect data on hummingbird food (aka wildflowers!) in the Bogus Basin area.
Our research
We have been studying hummingbird migration and nesting at Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area since 2024. We are working to understand hummingbird populations there so that we can help protect them and improve their habitat. Part of that research includes understanding when and where hummingbirds are finding food.
Can skiing save hummingbirds?
We hypothesize that later snow melt rates within ski runs might delay bloom timing for the flowers that hummingbirds eat. This change might be a good thing: causing flowers to bloom during the nesting season right when hummingbirds need them most.
Help us collect data
We need community scientists to help us out! To participate, you’ll need an iNaturalist account.
If you don’t use it already, you’ll need to create an account and download their phone app. Visit the iNaturalist website to get started, and be sure to read their Getting Started Guide.
Hikers and Bikers
If you love hiking or biking in the Bogus Basin and Shafer Butte area, send us your flower sightings. Here’s how:
Submit your flower photos
- Make sure you have the iNaturalist app downloaded on your phone before you head out.
- Review the iNaturalist Getting Started Guide, and How to Make and Observation tutorial. You can even practice on any plant in your own backyard to test it out!
- Submit Observations for any flowering plants you see. The more the better! We could use photos of plants with or without flowers or buds, since this will help us determine when flowers first begin blooming.
- If you’re not sure what your plant is, be sure to at least identify your observation as a plant (kingdom Plantae) so that the sighting is mapped on our project. Others can help identify it later.
- When you’re done, visit our Project Page on iNaturalist to check out all your hard work!
Help us online
If you’d like to replace your usual online scrolling with scrolling-for-science, here’s how. Whether you know a little or a lot about plants, we can use your help!
We need volunteers to visit the iNaturalist website and categorize flower observations that have been submitted to this project.
Categorize flowers, leaves, and buds
Before getting started, you may want to read this iNaturalist tutorial if you haven’t used the app before. Then,
- Visit this “Identify” page on our iNaturalist Project website and click the “filters” box.
- Select the check boxes for: “casual”, “needs ID”, “research grade”, and select “has photos”.
- On that same page, find the “Without Annotation” section and select “Flowers and Fruits” from the dropdown.
- Then click “update search” button. This will take you to a page with plant observations. Click the first photo, which will take you to the observation details.
- On the observation details screen, click the “Annotations” tab. In the Annotations section, categorize what you can see: flowers, buds, or fruits/seeds. If you aren’t sure, you can leave it blank.
- Once you’ve added your annotations, you can click the arrow on the right to go to the next sighting.
Identify Plants
If you already use iNaturalist a lot, and know about plant identification, we would appreciate your help identifying observations in this project! We’d like to get as many observations to Research Grade as possible. You’re a pro, so you know what to do from here. Here’s a link to our project page to get started.
FAQs
Data Collection
Where should I collect flower sightings?
If you’re out for a fun hike, any and all flower sightings are useful!
If you are going out intentionally to collect sightings for this project, we are especially interested in comparing ski runs to non-ski areas. If you can plan a hike that includes both, that would be very useful. As our project continues and we identify flower hotspots, we may send out announcements about certain trails or areas where we need more data.
How many photos should I take?
Aim for at least one photo of any flower species you notice.
If you cover a long distance, or change from a ski-run area to a non-ski area, photos in multiple locations along the length of your hike are helpful.
If you notice some individual plants with closed buds and others of the same species with open flowers, photos of both are very useful.
Do you want photos of plants with no flowers or dead flowers?
Yes!! These observations will be extremely useful to help us identify the start and end of the bloom season for any given species.
Do you want photos of all flower species?
For this first season, yes. For the most part. We are less interested in very tiny flowers (e.g. Ballhead Sandwort) that a hummingbird won’t likely drink from. When in doubt, take a photo :)
Apps
Can I use Seek instead of iNaturalist?
No, observations made in the Seek app won’t be included in the project.
Other Questions?
Email HeidiWare@boisestate.edu with any questions