Date: June 7 & 8
Location: Norman Bird Sanctuary, Middletown, Rhode Island
Norman Bird Sanctuary will be the local host for the 2024 Rhode Island BioBlitz. This will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of Norman Bird Sanctuary, the 30th anniversary of the Natural History Survey, and the 25th annual Rhode Island BioBlitz! Norman Bird Sanctuary was also the host for the 2001 RI BioBlitz, the second ever.
Registration for BioBlitz is CLOSED.
There is not enough parking on site. Please carpool if at all possible, and if you have more than one car choice, bring your “small car.” After 3:30 p.m., there is OVERFLOW PARKING at the GAUDET MIDDLE SCHOOL just a short distance away, on Turner Road. You can meet up there and carpool or use our SHUTTLE BUS to Norman Bird. Thanks for your patience with the parking situation.
SHUTTLE BUS runs at peak times: 4 pm to 9 pm Friday and on Saturday 7 am to 10 am and 1 pm to 3 pm.
BioBlitz participants will investigate some 300 acres including coastal forest and shrubland, farm field, streams, ponds, and swamps, salt marsh, beach, and dune, and bedrock outcrop. Here is a PDF event map with boundaries, features, and paths.
New to BioBlitz? How does it work? Do I have to be an expert? Do I have to come for the whole time?
Download the Orientation slide show in PDF
You might find the answer to your questions on this RI BioBlitz FAQ
Lead-up: Norman Bird Sanctuary hosted a BioBlitz teaser on November 15 and an orientation April 25. An orientation was held at Roger Williams Park Zoo April 23.
There is a RI BioBlitz 2024 iNaturalist project, but use of iNaturalist is very much optional. If you join the RI BioBlitz 2024 project on iNaturalist, finds you post within bounds will appear in the project and we’ll be able to retrieve them from there (but still report your finds at Science Central, through your team(s), on the RIBORF).
The .kml file used to create the event boundaries for the iNaturalist project is available if you’d like to install it on your own device. We can’t post it here, but we can email it to you if you request it from our office.
The t-shirt order is in, so if you haven’t ordered yours, it’s too late (sometimes we reprint later, so contact Kira after the event if you’d like to be notified about a possible reprint). For the first time in 25 years, it will be printed in two colors! Symbolizing our host, the Norman Bird Sanctuary, and the spring season, it’s an Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) in an apple tree (Malus domestica). The drawing is by Lucy Jeanne La Monica, an 8th grade student at Meadowbrook Waldorf School in Richmond, RI. It has been adapted for the BioBlitz t-shirt by artist and illustrator (and BioBlitz veteran) Frances Topping. The color will be blue and white on a coral shirt. Here’s a mockup.
Norman Bird Sanctuary was established in 1949 through a bequest made by Mabel Norman Cerio. Its mission is to engage a community of stewards to preserve, protect and enjoy this property and the ecosystems within and beyond its stone walls. Through conservation, historic preservation, education and exploration, Norman Bird Sanctuary fosters lifelong connections between people and the Sanctuary’s rich and diverse habitats. One of Rhode Island’s oldest and most well-rounded conservation organizations, Norman Bird Sanctuary brings a deep well of resources to BioBlitz including the buildings and facilities of its campus, its bustling education program, large and capable staff and corps of volunteers, and abundant community good will.
You can sign up for the Survey e-news to get all the BioBlitz news and announcements.
Thank you to BioBlitz lead sponsors:
Roger Williams Park Zoo
Largess Forestry
Peter H. Warny Conservation Fund