Turtle Tally and FrogWatch Appreciation Day 2018
Last Saturday, November 24, Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond hosted their annual FrogWatch and Turtle Tally Appreciation Day to thank the over 787 citizen scientist observers who participated in the programmes in 2018. Since the inception of FrogWatch in 1999, over 19,032 observations have been made with 543 of those made in 2018. Since the inception of Turtle Tally in 2003, over 21,334 observations have been made with 2,633 of those in 2018. Together there have been 40,366 observations submitted by citizen scientists in both programmes!
The number of submissions to FrogWatch and Turtle Tally in 2018 respectively increased by 3x and 1.5x from those in 2017! This increase is very exciting to see as participation had been dropping in previous years. This increase was likely significantly impacted by the launch of the new Adopt-A-Pond app and the dedication of participants with it. We hope that the accessibility and mobile resources are useful and welcome any feedback anytime by email so we can continue to improve the app. It is free on Google and Apple play stores.
Every November, AAP invites participants of our citizen science programmes, Ontario Turtle Tally and FrogWatch Ontario, to join us for a day at the Zoo. Presentations were provided by AAP and Turtle Island Conservation staff, Turtles Kingston, two graduate students (Patrick Moldowan and Courtney Leermakers), and a long-term Turtle Tallier named Pat Grace. Informational booths were provided by Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre, Little RES Q, Grand River Conservation Authority, and Aisha Dean (a young girl who sells her artwork to raise money for wildlife, specifically the Massasauga rattlesnake on this occasion). Participants were provided with an overview of accomplishments from the past year and highlights of how their participation contributed to amphibian and reptile conservation projects in Ontario. Thank you to all who joined us on Saturday and to all those who participate in the programmes!
For more information on Turtle Tally and Frog Watch Ontario, click here.
