Youth in Action @ the BioBlitz Festival!

Youth in Action spent an amazing Saturday at the BioBlitz Festival at Rouge Urban National Park. The purpose of this festival is to bring together taxonomic experts, citizen scientists and the general public to inventory all species (plants, animals, fungi and more) in a particular area over a  24 hour period. Participants record all the organisms they find, then experts verify their identity. This means that we get a better understanding of the native species in our Canadian wild and are better equipped to protect our local wildlife. 

 Opening ceremonies and tattoos!

Then, we headed over to do some rock-climbing!

 

 It was a long day and our phones were dying, but no worries, there was a bike-powered charging station!

 We visited all the educational booths and learned about local wildlife and how to protect our native species.

 We learned about birds of prey and even got to play with snakes and other reptiles!

Last, but not least, we went on a beautiful nature hike lead by Jacqueline, our Parks Canada guide. Who knew there was such a beautiful National park hidden in our urban home. 

Thanks #ParksCanada and #CanadianWildlifeFederation for making this event possible. And thanks to #ParkBus and #NatureLink for including the #YOUTHinACTION team. We had such a great time and learned so much about Canadian and Torontonian wildlife!