Be a Citizen Naturalist during Ohio BioBlitz 250 at Mosquito Lake State Park

Who’s ready for a critter scavenger hunt? This summer, Ohio State Parks are hosting BioBlitz 250 events that encourage Ohioans to explore with family and friends. The version at Mosquito Lake State Park in Cortland challenges participants to identify more than 250 species over the course of one day, June 13.

“We have a lot of different habitats surrounding Mosquito Lake. They give way to a variety of different wildlife,” says park naturalist Jason Lee. “We have birding, we have fish, macroinvertebrates and a crazy number of amphibians — all different aspects of life.”

Participants set out into the park’s 2,483 acres of forests and marshes and along the shore of its over 7,000-surface-acre lake to discover and catalogue as many creatures as possible. Using the iNaturalist smartphone app, they can document every frog, turtle, duck or butterfly they spot. 

“It doesn’t take somebody with a doctorate in botany to go out there and identify these wildflowers anymore because we have a lot of tools at our hands that we can use,” Lee says. “You can be the one out there doing the work and really giving us an accurate study of the landscape.”

At the BioBlitz Bash later in the evening, attendees gather around a campfire and share their discoveries, which will then be tallied. Lee says the event is a great opportunity to build camaraderie around being what he calls “citizen scientists.”

BioBlitz also features an opportunity for guided surveys with wildlife experts to spot birds and other animals, as well as a Lake to Plate program, where visitors can try fishing for walleye, bass, crappie and northern pike. If the fish are of legal size, Lee and others will teach participants how to clean, filet and cook their catch in an outdoor kitchen. 

“There are a lot of things that go into this country over 250 years, and conservation and the world around us is one of them,” Lee says. “It’s nice that we can appreciate where we are today and that we still have all these species.” 

1439 St. Rte. 305, Cortland 44410, ohiodnr.gov

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