by Dr. Sarah Treanor Bois, PhD
Director of Research & Conservation at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation
It’s once again BioBlitz time on Nantucket! Mid-summer is the perfect time for a BioBlitz. It’s peak growing season, height of insects, the tail end of nesting season for many birds, decent weather for beachcombing, and there are lots of people on island to help us count them all!
Since 2020, Nantucket has been holding BioBlitz events every summer. Led by the Linda Loring Nature Foundation and the Nantucket Land and Water Council, the annual BioBlitz event has cataloged more than 1,900 species and surpassed 15,000 observations over the past 5 years!
For 2026, we are upping the ante. For the first time ever, this year’s BioBlitz will be a “friendly” competition between Nantucket and our sister island, Martha’s Vineyard; the first annual inter-island BioBlitz! And just like the precious Island Cup for our football rivalry, this competition has a trophy celebrating the biodiversity of our islands.
The inter-island event features BioBlitzes that are two weeks long and conducted simultaneously on the rival islands: Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Conducted from July 24 through August 7 these events are a contest for biodiversity and iNaturalist bragging rights. They are also an opportunity for naturalists and community members on both of these wonderful islands, closely linked by both geography and culture, to celebrate and help document the unique biodiversity of this region we all love.
What is a BioBlitz anyway? A BioBlitz is a communal community-science event where scientists, naturalists, and members of the public work together to identify and record as many species (plants, animals, fungi, insects, etc.) as possible within a specific location and time period. For the inter-island BioBlitz, we are using the iNaturalist app to keep track of the data and help us identify our finds.
Participants using the iNaturalist app take photos of any living thing and upload them to iNaturalist. You can enter the species name if you know it or you can let the algorithm suggest an ID based on the photo, location, and season. Volunteer verifiers then confirm that ID or suggest another bringing the observation to research grade. The Linda Loring Nature Foundation has a tutorial for how to use iNaturalist for the BioBlitz here at llnf.org/virtualprograms/v/how-to-use-inaturalist-nantucket-bioblitz.
During this year’s BioBlitz, all iNaturalist observations from either island will be included in the Inter-Island Project as the rival islands compete for most observations and most species. Results will shed light on differences between the islands in species composition and seasonality. Anyone can participate, but we encourage you to join the iNaturalist project at inaturalist.org/projects making it easy to track results, receive guidelines, updates, and highlights.
Lead by the Linda Loring Nature Foundation on Nantucket and BiodiversityWorks’ Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life, the BioBlitz uses iNaturalist to record, catalog, and help identify all life on the islands. Throughout the 2-week period, event organizers will highlight fun biodiversity finds and species unique to each island. Free programs throughout the BioBlitz are available to guide participants in how to make and record observations while visiting some of our amazing island habitats. For Nantucket events, check out the Linda Loring Nature Foundation calendar for free guided programs in multiple habitats throughout the 2-week period. Colleague organizations are also joining in the fun as we strive to squash the Vineyard Grapes.
Of course, we hope Nantucket will take the lead, but this event is about more than just competition. Looking at the data collectively, we’re hoping to be able to make comparisons about species, habitats, and timing (phenology). Our conservation partners at BiodiversityWorks have a lot more land area to cover (MV is nearly twice the size of Nantucket), but each island has unique species and/or habitats. Outside of the BioBlitz time period, BiodiversityWorks has been using iNaturalist to catalog all life on Martha’s Vineyard via their Atlas of Life project which boasts over 5,500 species. For Nantucket, there are over 3,800 species listed on iNaturalist for the entire island, but that includes species seen in other seasons as well.
Throughout the 2-week period of the Inter-Island BioBlitz, we will be posting interesting observations and updates from both islands. We expect some obvious differences like the number of mammal species on MV and the fact that birds like the Tufted Titmouse are common there, but a rarity on Nantucket. Nantucket may be geographically smaller, but we are mighty in our community effort to document species. In 2024, the biggest year for our local BioBlitz, the Nantucket event had 3,649 observations and documented 977 species in only two weeks! Some of my personal favorite finds from that year were baby barracuda found in the harbor, puffer fish, wolf’s milk slime mold, and the Ruddy Ducks here out of season. Even though I am a plant ecologist, I love the BioBlitz for all the new species I get to see and learn about. I can’t wait for the 2026 event to start and to share all the interesting and potentially new finds.
We are encouraging everyone (on both islands) to get out, enjoy nature, and maybe learn something along the way”—and please submit an observation or two. We’ll be visiting beaches, forests, ponds, and grasslands. Join a free guided program or make some casual observations on your regular excursions in nature – it could be your own backyard.
Which island can accumulate the most iNaturalist observations and document the most species during the 2-week event? Who will win the first-ever (soon-to-be-coveted) trophy as the inaugural Biodiversity Boss? Follow along to find out! Visit llnf.org to learn more about the BioBlitz or contact Sarah Bois, Director of Research and Conservation at stbois@llnf.org with questions.
