surrey-bc_biodiversity's Journal

Every year the City of Surrey supports a diversity of biodiversity-related research projects on City parkland. These projects are typically in partnership with other senior agencies, First Nations and academia. some projects like the Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity of Guildford, Surrey, BC will enhance our understanding of local indicator species and taxon through community science. Check out the project and if you are heading out for the City Nature Challenge this month (April 28-May 1) double your observation's value by including some of the parks in this project!
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/bird-and-butterfly-biodiversity-of-guildford-surrey-bc
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023-surrey-bc

We're just 10 days away from the start of the City Nature Challenge. Help spread the word about the event., share the City's event page and iNaturalist project info.

On top of general observation collection we have several dedicated events this year, including a how to session with iNaturalist expert John Reynolds.
Check out the City of Surrey's CNC event page to learn more about what, where and when.
https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/events/city-nature-challenge

Have you made plans to where you are going to BioBlitz this year! Still thinking about a special spot to go to? Consider doing one of the parks in the "Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity of Guildford" project and double the value of your observations by contributing to this SFU project, and filling the City's local flora and fauna knowledge gaps in some of the lesser visited parks in Surrey. Check out this umbrella project here:
https://inaturalist.ca/journal/surrey-bc_biodiversity/77404-new-local-project-bird-and-butterfly-biodiversity-of-guildford-surrey-bc.

We're just 10 days away from the start of the City Nature Challenge. Help spread the word about the event., share the City's event page and iNaturalist project info.
https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/events/city-nature-challenge

On top of general observation collection we have several dedicated events this year, including a how to session with iNaturalist expert John Reynolds.
Check out the City of Surrey's CNC event page to learn more about what, where and when.
https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/events/city-nature-challenge

Have you made plans to where you are going to BioBlitz this year! Still thinking about a special spot to go to? Consider doing one of the parks in the "Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity of Guildford" project and double the value of your observations by contributing to this SFU project, and filling the City's local flora and fauna knowledge gaps in some of the lesser visited parks in Surrey. Check out this umbrella project here:
https://inaturalist.ca/journal/surrey-bc_biodiversity/77404-new-local-project-bird-and-butterfly-biodiversity-of-guildford-surrey-bc.

Or more precisely in 34 hours in New Zealand ! We hope you all feel prepared and excited and looking forward to getting outside to look for and document nature. Your efforts make the City Nature Challenge the phenomenal event that it is – Surrey couldn’t do it without you!

As of right now, our numbers are 485 cities across 46 countries participating!
We’re really hoping to find wild plants and animals. If you do make observations of organisms that are not wild, please mark them as captive/cultivated (and as people work to identify observations, they can also mark anyone’s observation as not wild in the Data Quality Assessment section).
If you have questions during the CNC, there are a couple good places to look for answers:
o The City Nature Challenge frequently asked questions [https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/faq]
o For questions specifically about iNaturalist, there is the City Nature Challenge category on the iNaturalist forum which is a great place to look for help [https://forum.inaturalist.org/c/city-nature-challenge/21].

And remember, observation have to be tagged between April 28 - May 1 (12:01 am to 11:59 pm), and all uploads complete by May 7.

Please don't leave your observation as unknown, and check that your phot or audio file has uploaded. If you're stumped but know it's in the plant, fungi or animal kingdom, make sure to refine your ID.

And if you have time, help others with their ID, but only if you are confident (does it occur here, has it been verified here previously, is it a close look-alike with something else...?). Genus and species is the Goldilocks goal for observations, but sometimes you can only get to Order, Family or Subfamily.

Remember, there are almost half a million observers out there and a whole lot of folks to help you refine your ID. Don't be afraid to tag someone for help!

The forecast shows multiple days of awesome weather ahead, so have fun!

We're off to a good start, congrats to @mgenuist for the first posted CNC observation for 2023. Surrey staff and volunteers will be out over the next four days blitzing various City parks, so tune in to our profile, and projects like our Surrey Youth Stewardship Squad (https://inaturalist.ca/projects/surrey-youth-stewardship-squad) to see where and what we observe. Weather this weekend offers a good mix to bring out the sun and rain loving life out there.

Happy blitzing everyone. Looking forward to seeing the observations roll in. Let's give the other Metro Vancouver cities a good run!

As the City Nature Challenge gets going, a gentle reminder that the focus is on wild organisms (native, naturalized or introduced). So no people, pets or livestock. Though are feral animals (e.g., domestic rabbits dumped in a greenspace) or okay. Native plants are also preferred (e.g., avoid houseplants or ornamental garden plants), but noxious weeds or invasive plants in our natural areas are okay.

Get BioBlitzing and have fun out there!

Just a shout out to everyone busily scouring Surrey for observations this weekend! The weather has been perfect (hot yesterday, cool today) which brings out more variety of wildlife.

I see we've got many folks with 30+ observations, and still going. Whether it's 1 or 101, every contribution counts.

For our City account, we will have blitzed 14 parks by end of the CNC tomorrow, equating to several hundred observations and audio recordings to add. Seems that most of the insects (especially the butterflies, bees, and flies) out now are in hyper mode and too fast to get a good ID for. So, except for the ones that stayed still long enough for a pic, many will be casual. Note to self - time to get a good sweep net.

We'll be close to, or surpass our numbers from last year, and right now we're ahead of Delta, Coquitlam and Richmond. But we won't know actual numbers until the dust settles May 8th.

Enjoy the last day of the CNC tomorrow and thank you for your incredible effort!

Just a shout out to everyone busily scouring Surrey for observations this weekend! The weather has been perfect (hot yesterday, cool today) which brings out more variety of wildlife.

I see we've got many folks with 30+ observations, and still going. Whether it's 1 or 101, every contribution counts.

For our City account, we will have blitzed 14 parks by end of the CNC tomorrow, equating to several hundred observations and audio recordings to add. Seems that most of the insects (especially the butterflies, bees, and flies) out now are in hyper mode and too fast to get a good ID for. So, except for the ones that stayed still long enough for a pic, many will be casual. Note to self - time to get a good sweep net.

We'll be close to, or surpass our numbers from last year, and right now we're ahead of Delta, Coquitlam and Richmond. But we won't know actual numbers until the dust settles May 8th.

Enjoy the last day of the CNC tomorrow and thank you for your incredible effort!