Central Asian Nature Guides

We come across a lot of plants here. Some look like your usual grapes...but hold on, what're those?

It has been quite some time since our last update, but we've got some special news to share!

Our development team is working hard on an update to our citizen science phone applications. The most important update out of this for the general public is that you will be able to use our apps on your iPhone now! No longer just for Android users! There are a few extra features we are putting in as well, like a notes section where you can record extra info about each sighting.

But for scientists looking for a way to get citizen scientists active in their projects, we are building a "developer's" platform where anyone can build a new data collecting app with our system. We are really excited about this as it means more and more projects will be possible in more and more places!

And to make things a bit more simple to navigate on your phone, we are changing the setup of the apps. Instead of downloading multiple apps for different projects, you will only need one app where you can add the projects from within, making these projects take less space on your phone and being easier to switch between.

These updates are being planned for public release in June 2017. We'll make sure to let you know the exact date so you can get involved in citizen science.

Even though it is winter in Kyrgyzstan, there are still lots of birds around! Try using our "Birds of Kyrgyzstan" App to identify and submit sightings of the birds braving our winter. Check it out at https://goo.gl/qrWQnr but keep in mind this app is still in "beta mode" and so the database is still pretty sparse...

Birds Of Kyrgyzstan (Unreleased)

A special thank you to Koenraad Bracke. There are now 5 new species in our database due to your hard work this summer! They are: Eumedonia eumedon (Geranium Argus), Polycaena tamerlana (No common name), Agriades pheretiades (Tien Shan Blue), Ochlodes sylvanus (Large Skipper), and Pieris canidia (Indian Cabbage White). All photos in this post are property of Koenraad Bracke.

Check out this recent article that describes the citizen science work that Biosphere Expeditions is doing for Snow Leopard conservation here in Kyrgyzstan. We have been partnering with them the past two years with our apps which they use to collect extra baseline data on the surrounding ecosystem! This is a great project!

(and yes, the article is in German...)

https://issuu.com/biosphere-expeditions/docs/ts-abenteuerreisen16

Abenteuer & Reisen, Germany, October 2016 Fourteen page feature of Tien Shan snow leopard expedition (with competition)

A big thank you to Sergei Toropov, the author of the most complete books on butterflies in Central Asia. I got to spend an afternoon with him today talking about the future of our citizen science apps and the history of biological research in Kyrgyzstan. I also needed to replace 1 of my books and ended up with a few more plus some display boxes for insect specimens. Looking forward to his future book releases on birds and moths of Kyrgyzstan!

What a great year! Almost 200 butterfly sightings were submitted from all over Kyrgyzstan this year. 48 different species were recorded, including the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), our last record for the year from November 3! (Photo courtesy of Kristian Peters)

Wonderful!

We now have 73 species of Kyrgyz butterflies represented in our app. Thank you to everyone that is helping build this wonderful database! Here is our newest species: the Central Asian Grayling (Hipparchia autonoe) found August 6 at Ala Archa National Park.

We now have 73 species of Kyrgyz butterflies represented in our app. Thank you to everyone that is helping build this wonderful database! Here is our newest species: the Central Asian Grayling (Hipparchia autonoe) found August 6 at Ala Archa National Park.

Что за "покемон" сидит на заборе?
Emmelina monodactyla (Палцекрылка)
относится к семейству сумеречных бабочек, которые отличающихся от других чешуекрылых всегда расправленными плоскими крыльями.

On a short trip to Balykchy on the shores of Issyk Kul we were able to get some shots of some birds a butterfly that were new to our project. Check them out.