BioBlitz mushroom survey leaders Hannah Morosoff and Wren Hudgins examine the details of a specimen in a photo. Credit: Susie Fitzhugh

Two days after Vashon Nature Center’s 2022 BioBlitz, NASA released the first breathtaking images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The scientists sounded positively giddy as they interpreted deep space portraits some 13.6-billion light years old.

Viewing snapshots holding clues to the origins of our universe produced in me the same tingling feelings of wonder I’d experienced at the BioBlitz. This marathon 24-hour community science effort brings together scientists, naturalists and curious participants to record every living organism within a prescribed geographic area. The 2022 Heart of the Island BioBlitz (VNC’s sixth ‘Blitz) focused on the town of Vashon and included an area stretching east to Puget Sound and west to encompass Fisher Pond.

More than 100 participants, including volunteer experts, counted 514 species—with more being added every day. These discoveries may be humbler than those of a $10 billion telescope orbiting the sun, but they are no less awe-inspiring. (Check out our own mind-blowing photo gallery on iNaturalist at Heart of the Island BioBlitz 2022.)

And what are the benefits of feeling awe? For me, it reawakened a sense of connection and purpose after a season marked by loss. It was healing to be with people equally enthused by nature’s mysteries and nonhuman-defined beauty. Peering into the damp innards of a rotting log with fungi aficionado Kurt Miller, I felt an elation echoed in the excited voices of those NASA scientists.

One important difference between the worlds revealed by the Webb telescope and that of our unassuming log, is that the log is happening now, not eons ago—and right outside your door! This chunk of wood, no larger than a loaf of bread, held the myriad and complex individual “star systems” of fungi, slime molds, insects, spiders, nematodes, and many more—each pursuing a life as singular and important as our own. And to bend your mind a bit further—each of these living things, in the purest sense, is our relation—composed of the same star dust that thrums through the bodies of humans and is the shared basis of all life on Earth.

As we worked to get photos of as many of them as possible to include in our species count, Kurt pointed out the mazelike face of a resupinate polypore—a shelf fungus that spreads flat rather than protruding like its cousin conks you see marching up decaying trees. As we watched a translucent nematode scooching purposefully along, he told me about Nematophagous fungi that have evolved to trap and digest these threadlike worms. (The Venus fly traps of the fungi kingdom!) A closeup of Hypoxolon showed grapelike bundles from a family of fungi known as some of the first to colonize dead trees. Woven between these delicate and disparate lifeforms were spider’s webs, silvery egg-like clusters, spindly lollipop-like protrusions, and a wee orange mushroom with a cap the size of a pen tip—each of them begging to be counted!

Alas, the 1 p.m. BioBlitz deadline was looming and there was the whole of Fisher Pond to circumnavigate. With more time I’m certain we could have cataloged an astonishing number of other beings on that one section of wood. And what of the hidden interiors of the many, many other logs scattered throughout the area? The possibilities are mind-boggling.

On the first day of the BioBlitz, I felt an appreciative awe during the dragonfly survey with Alan Warneke, who has been tracking island odonates for more than 20 years. I arrived at the specified pond just west of town with my daughter, Alex, 23, who has participated in five of Vashon Nature Center’s six BioBlitzes. 

Alan lit up as he soon tallied 11 species of damselflies and dragonflies—remarkable diversity for a wetland constructed as environmental remediation for a housing development. When the sun moved briefly behind clouds, it was surprising to witness the abrupt absence of buzzing, mating and feeding damsels and dragons. As the sun reappeared, so suddenly did the busy insects—bright turquoise, electric green, spotlight red, all rarely alighting long enough for us to examine closely. (Pro tip: Choose binoculars with close focusing capabilities for the best dragonfly viewing.) As Alex stalked the tall grasses, paparazzi of the cardinal meadowhawks and eight-spotted skimmers, she held the same eager intent as she did when she was 13 at our first Island BioBlitz at Neill Point in 2012.

In June, Alex started her first post-grad school position as a research associate for a Seattle biosciences company, where she explores the inner workings of cells. I believe her lifelong exposure to the small wonders of nature led her to a career that probes one aspect of the infinitesimal nature within us. I am thankful to the many experts, including Alan and Kurt, who volunteer at our BioBlitzes, and inspire young and old alike.

Writing this BioBlitz wrap-up makes me hanker for more ways to ignite the joy of discovery within myself and others. I’ve decided to take the lead of my friend and island naturalist, Harsi Parker, and aim to catalog 1,000 species in my own yard. She’s already met and surpassed that goal at her island home! I am also committing to regular forays on island trails with friends who inspire me with their knowledge of and appreciation for nature’s bounty.

I extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who planned and participated in the Heart of the Island BioBlitz. It is through these events that you bring Vashon Nature Center’s vision alive: A world awakened to the wonders of nature.

Kathryn volunteered as Vashon Nature Center’s outreach and communications manager for nine years. She is now an advisor for VNC.

Stay tuned for more reporting on what we found during BioBlitz 2022. We are still sorting through all our awesome sightings, here’s what we’ve put names to so far :

• Plants (mosses included) —202
• Arthropods—118 
• Marine invertebrates and algae —55
• Birds—45
• Mammals —15 
• Amphibians and reptiles — 4
• Lichens and Fungi — 45
• Fish — 2 freshwater, 3 marine

This year’s Bioblitz was sponsored by community donations and an Alan Painter King County Community Service Area Grant. Thank you to all who supported this community event!