Bioblitz A girl takes a photograph of a species of plant to upload to iNaturalist. © Devan King/TNC

City Nature Challenge

Discover and document the biodiversity of our urban spaces.

By Deborah Barber, Director of Land Management, Maryland/DC Chapter

What kind of wild species can you spot at one-minute past midnight on a rainy spring night?

That’s the question DC-area citizen scientists will soon be asking themselves. There’s stiff competition to be the first person to post a photo of a wild organism to the iNaturalist app, and become the first observer in the Washington, DC City Nature Challenge.

The City Nature Challenge is a fun, friendly competition that encourages people to discover and document the biodiversity of our urban spaces. Held each year among metropolitan areas worldwide, the aim is to find out which city can spot the greatest number of wild species, find the most diversity of species, and engage the most observers. Last year, participants in nearly 70 cities made more than 400,000 observations during the 4-day competition.

Zoom In, Zoom Out

iNaturalist, like The Nature Conservancy itself, is both deep and broad, highly local and powerfully global. Zoom in, zoom out, you’ll see amazing things at every level.

Zoom in: I posted a photo of a ladybeetle larva in my garden, then learned from other users that the Asian species has forked bristles; the natives’ bristles are single-tipped. Now I know what to look for! Zoom out from any observation and you can see the global distribution of that species.

With a few more clicks, you can see how each organism fits into the entire taxonomical tree of life. Likewise, with TNC, I can spend a morning at work monitoring a plant found only in one small patch in Maryland, then in the afternoon share conservation strategies with Conservancy colleagues from Mongolia, China or Indonesia.

iNaturalist and TNC are both constantly learning and evolving. iNaturalist’s computer vision, added in 2017, becomes smarter as users identify photos of organisms.

When I started working at the Maryland/DC Chapter, one of my first plant monitoring projects was documenting the steady decline of a rare wildflower, Canby's dropwort (Oxypolis canbyi). Now we have learned that it needs fire to thrive. We are burning its habitat and watching it multiply, and we are working with partner organizations to develop regional strategies to develop a more fire-friendly culture for natural area managers.

Friendly Competition

I’m not normally a competitive person, but when this year’s City Nature Challenge begins, I will be out at midnight helping the DC area make the best possible showing. Will we surpass 2018’s ranking of 5th for number of observations, 8th for number of species and 4th for number of observers? I'm hopeful we will!

In addition to leading walks in biodiverse natural areas, I will be outside in my suburban neighborhood at every possible moment to get a few more smartphone shots of weeds or garden bugs.

So, what observations have DC-area iNaturalists submitted in the moments past midnight? Photos of a flashlight-illuminated ichneumonid wasp, a shield lichen, raccoon tracks on a trash can, a kitchen pantry moth and an audio file of a mockingbird singing its late-night song all have contributed to our picture of the diversity of life in Washington, DC.

City Nature Observations

How You Can Take Part

What began in 2016 as a friendly challenge between Los Angeles and San Francisco, organized by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, has now grown to an international event!

It’s easy to get involved using the iNaturalist app (free on the app store). Just take a picture of a plant or animal and upload it to the app. Any observations made in the Baltimore or Washington, DC metro challenge areas between April 26-29, 2019 will count during the four day challenge.

The Maryland/DC chapter is hosting five guided events as part of the 2019 City Nature Challenge:

You don't have to join an organized outing to get involved in the City Nature Challenge; anyone can take part! Our photo gallery of local TNC preserves and partner sites below will help get you started, but you can also explore your own backyard or neighborhood parks. There's nature all around you!