City Nature Challenge 2020
Details
(PLEASE IGNORE THE DATES BECAUSE THIS LASTS ALL APRIL.)
Please join this important global citizen-science project by Nat Geo and the CA Academy of Sciences by photographing nature in your own backyard or neighborhood this month and uploading it onto the free iNaturalist app. iNaturalist is an amazing, crowd-sourced artificial intelligence tool to identify plants & animals for you and to act as an invaluable resource for scientists. (Use it year-round, not just for this project!)
Normally this is a friendly city v. city bioblitz competition, but the pandemic has turned it into a collaboration. So in DC, instead of just the original April 24-27 "City Nature Challenge 2020," there's also a month-long project: "City Nature Month April 2020 Washington DC Metro Area."
After you download the app, you need to add those two projects before you begin. (Instructions follow.) Then, just use your cell phone or camera to photograph critters, birds, & plants.
If you haven't used iNaturalist before and like videos, here's Nat Geo's Zoom meeting explaining it: https://tnc.zoom.us/rec/play/vZd7f-38pjM3HoeQtwSDAv5_W9S-fKKsgSIcqfZfyEznAXJXN1TzZrAWZ-LLnb-_Yrmyi6uvDFY1G-d0
Or you can just check out these links on your own:
https://citynaturechallengedc.org
https://www.inaturalist.org
START UPLOADING YOUR PHOTO OBSERVATIONS OF NATURE (insects, mammals, skulls, flowers, trees, reptiles, scat -- you name it!) ON 4/19/20 OR EARLIER AFTER JOINING THE TWO PROJECTS:
HOW TO JOIN:
(1) Open the free iNaturalist app.
(2) Click on "More" with three dots on top of it on the bottom right.
(3) Click on "Projects."
(4) Type in "City Nature Challenge 2020" by clicking on the search magnifying icon at the top right and hit enter after you type it in. When you find it, just click on the project.
(5) Then search again for the month-long project: "City Nature Month April 2020 Washington DC Metro Area."
Please also feel free to upload your FAV photos in our Meetup album and share your discoveries in "Discussions." IF YOU VENTURE BEYOND YOUR OWN HOME, PLEASE FOLLOW ALL SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES FROM THE CDC AND YOUR OWN LOCALE. QUESTIONS? Please email bARb22030 aT yaHOo doT cOM