It feels appropriate that I made my 1st contribution to the BBS today, as a form of conservation patriotism! It’s one of the longest-running and most extensive citizen science efforts in the world, and I was happy to kick off my Independence Day contributing to this data set. The timing also comes on the heels of the death of its founder earlier this year, so I feel like I’m carrying the torch, along with thousands of other volunteers nationwide. (Not to mention, my participation was long overdue because my entire dissertation was based on it.)