From Spiders to Dragonflies, Hellyer Park Has it All

It was a sunny morning on August 11th when a group of citizen scientists came out to monitor

wildlife with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful at Hellyer Park in San Jose. Coyote Creek runs through parts of the 178 acres of park land, providing many species of wildlife, ranging from spiders to birds. In protecting this wildlife, the work done by these volunteers is entered into a national database called iNaturalist, a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.

This BioBlitz was the second one this year that we hosted. The other BioBlitz was in the spring for the City Nature Challenge, an annual global competition to look at and identify nature.

Hellyer Park isn’t shy when it comes to boasting its diversity. At this event, we found over 130 species, including bugs, plants, mammals, and birds. Below you can see a few species ranging from the ones in cocoons to those that rather look more intimidating. See all the observations on the project page.

A Moth (Order Lepidoptera). Photo by Merav Vonshak

An adorable Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) hopping around; taken by Karan Gathani

Here is a prickly Eutichurid Spiders (Family Cheiracanthiidae). Photo by Merav Vonshak

These wonderful images could not have been made possible without the time and effort of docents and explorers so thank you!