City Nature Challenge 2024: Ada County's Journal

Thank you for helping make this year's City Nature Challenge the best one yet! Together we logged over 800 species across Ada County! Below are some stats from this year's event.
City Nature Challenge Results 2024 – Ada County
Total Observations: 5173
Total Species: 865
Total Observers: 232
Verifiable Observations: 4777
Verifiable Species: 829
Verifiable Observers: 219
Research Grade Observations: 166
Research Grade Species 153
Research Grade Observers: 391
% Verifiable Observations: 922.34
% Verifiable Species: 95.84
% Research Grade Observations: 24.75
% Research Grade Species 18.46
Average # of Observations Per Observer: 22.30

2024 Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge Results
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2024-cnc-northern-rocky-mountain-biodiversity-challenge-nrmbc

Ada County ranked in 1st place with 766 species overall. For number of observations and observers, we came in 2nd place with 5, 173 observations and 232 observers. Way to go Ada County!

Here is a link to the global results! This year we logged nearly 2.5 million observations!
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-north-and-south-america/journal

I hope that you continue to explore the wild places that make our corner of the world unique and share your discoveries with the world through iNaturalist!

Wow! Together we flew past our record of 631 species from last year with a current count of 870 species and 5, 035 individual observations. Truly amazing! The identification period will continue through Sunday, May 5th. Between now and then, photos taken between April 26th and 29th can continue to be uploaded and identifiers will continue to work to move as may observations as possible to research grade. Thanks so much for participating in this event! I hope that you learned something new, and perhaps found a wonderful new location to explore. Stay tuned for the final announcement early next week!
Stay curious!

Today is the last day to take photos for this year's Challenge. Yesterday we blew past last year's record of 642 species and are currently sitting at 715! Way to go! This places Ada County as number one in the species count for the 2024 Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge. Can we hit 800? Let's search far and wide across the county for those rare species that help make our corner of the world special. Thanks again to everyone who has participated by contributing observations and/or by adding identifications.

We could still use some help with basic identifications for observations marked as "unknown". Here is a link to information about how to help with identifications. https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/61944-how-i-make-identifications
Filtering by project (City Nature Challenge 2024: Ada County) will narrow down the range of observations to those just in our local project.

The identification period is open through May 5th, so there is still plenty of time to work to move observations to research grade.

Happy exploring! Be safe, have fun, and stay curious!

Way to go Ada County! We are nearing our 2023 species record of 631! It looks like it is going to be another wonderful day to get out and explore the wild spaces that make Ada County special. Let's see if we can't surpass last year's total today. How many new wild species can you add to your list?

Please remember....
-Include some level of identification (plant, reptile, bird, etc.) with each observation.
-Please no people, pets and potted plants.
-For plants, include a photo of the flower (if there is one), leaf, and overall plant.

Let's show the world the incredible diversity of wild species that make our community a wonderful place to live, work, and play!

Have fun and explore safely!

Wow! The 2024 Ada County City Nature Challenge is off to a fantastic start! Collectively 100 participants have documented 342 species across the county! It looks like the weather will be perfect to get out exploring again today. Did you know that Ada County is one of dozens of communities competing in the 2024 CNC Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge? Currently we are in second place behind Division 6 AB. Learn more about this challenge here
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2024-cnc-northern-rocky-mountain-biodiversity-challenge-nrmbc

A few reminders:
-Please remember to add some level of identification to your observations. This can be as simple as insect, tree, bird, reptile etc. Adding a basic description will help your observation get identified faster.
-Please remember to mark plants that are cultivated (grown or planted intentionally by humans) as such. Also, no pets, people, or potted plants please
-All photo or sound observations need to be made by the end of the day on Monday, April 29th. They can continue to be uploaded and identified through May 5th.

A huge thank you to all the identifiers working behind the scenes to help verify species ID's. We are so grateful!

Can we hit 750 species this year? Let's give it a go!

Have fun and be safe!

Today is the day! It's time to get out explore the wonderful outdoor spaces found all across Ada County and document the diversity of life in our wonderful corner of the world. Nearly 700 communities in 51 countries representing every continent are joining this effort to document biodiversity in the spaces we live, work, and play. How many species will you find? Last year Ada County collectively documented 631 species. Let's see if we can hit 750 this year. Have fun and be safe!

The City Nature Challenge starts this Friday! It looks like the weather will be decent for getting out and exploring our parks, open spaces, neighborhoods, and backyards! How many species will you find? This year nearly 700 communities representing 51 countries will be participating making this City Nature Challenge the biggest one yet! Remember all observations made in Ada County between Friday, April 26th and the end of the day on Monday, April 29th will be counted toward our totals. Photos taken between April 26th and 29th can be uploaded through May 5th. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Greetings!
Just wanted to let you all know that Ada County will be participating in the City Nature Challenge is again this year. This year, the observation period will take place between April 26th and 29th. Identifications can occur through May 5th. This year we anticipate that over 500 communities globally will take part in the City Nature Challenge event. (www.citynaturechallenge.org)
I’ve tagged you in this journal post because you’re either: (1) a top observer or identifier from last year’s Boise Metro Area City Nature Challenge, and/or (2) a top observer or identifier in Ada County . We’re really hoping you’ll participate in this year’s City Nature Challenge. Regular iNat users like you can play a key role in finding and documenting biodiversity across the county.

The easiest way to join in is simply to make as many observations of as many species as possible in Ada County between April 26th and 29th. Helping with IDs (through May 5th) will also increase our species count, so that’s a great way to contribute as well. And of course, spread the word!
City Nature Challenge 2024: Ada County iNaturalist project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-ada-county

The details: the CNC runs from 12:01 AM on Friday, 4/26 to 11:59 PM on Monday, 4/29. Observations from anywhere in Ada County count toward our totals. Results will be announced on Monday, May 6th! Also, the more observations we can get identified down to species by then, the higher our species number will be.

Please reach out if you have questions, etc. in the comments – and definitely add others to this journal post via tagging them in the comments!

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