City Nature Challenge 2018: Baltimore's Journal

April 15, 2019

Join Us for the 2019 City Nature Challenge

Hi everyone,
The City Nature Challenge is happening again this year on April 26 – 29, 2019. The City Nature Challenge is an international effort for people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can identify the most species, and who can engage the most people on iNaturalist. Baltimore is excited to participate in the challenge again this year. There are over 150 other cities across the globe participating this year so it will be a great competition!

We're so glad you helped us with the 2018 City Nature Challenge in Baltimore and we're hoping you’ll participate in this year’s City Nature Challenge too. It is iNaturalist users like you that will really help push us ahead in number of observations made and species recorded in the Baltimore metro area. The easiest way to participate is to make as many iNaturalist observations of as many species as you can in Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard and Queen Anne's counties during April 26 – 29. Helping with identifications will increase our final species numbers so that’s a great way to participate as well. You can find and join our 2019 City Nature Challenge: Baltimore iNaturalist project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-baltimore

The 2019 City Nature Challenge runs from 12:01am on Friday, 4/26 to 11:59pm on Monday, 4/29. All iNaturalist observations from the Baltimore metro area (Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard and Queen Anne's counties) will automatically be counted. Results will be announced on Monday, May 6 so be sure to upload all your observations by then. For more information and for a list of events happening in the Baltimore area during this challenge, please visit our website at www.aqua.org/baltimore-cnc You can also sign a pledge on the website which will send you instructions on how to participate, two updates during the challenge, and a final results email once the challenge ends. We hope to see your observations!

Posted on April 15, 2019 06:36 PM by nationalaquarium nationalaquarium | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 7, 2018

City Nature Challenge 2018: Baltimore Results & Survey

Great job, Baltimore! Of 68 participating cities in the 2018 City Nature Challenge, Baltimore finished 24th for # of observations made, 22nd for # of species identified, and 13th for # of observers–a strong showing for the region’s first City Nature Challenge effort. Baltimore also finished in 10th place for total increase in iNaturalist observers (265 of the 408 iNaturalist users were new users that joined and participated during the challenge). More highlights from Baltimore are listed below.

City Nature Challenge 2018: Baltimore Highlights
o Over 600 people attended in-person events held by the National Aquarium and their partners during the challenge.
o Baltimore participants documented 222 new species not previously documented on iNaturalist in the Baltimore metro area before the challenge began.
o The most commonly reported plant species was the garlic mustard, while the American robin was the most-sighted animal.
o Purple-stem Cliffbrake (Pellaea atropurpurea) was observed. This fern was found in Baltimore City during the challenge by the University of Baltimore and has only been recorded by the Maryland Biodiversity Project twice in the city before.
o Tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) was found in Leakin Park by using echolocation devices. This species was petitioned in 2016 to be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act due to the impacts of white-nose syndrome.
o 20 threatened species were documented.

If you would like to share feedback with the iNaturalist team about the City Nature Challenge, please complete the brief survey here.

Posted on June 7, 2018 03:20 PM by nationalaquarium nationalaquarium | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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