Results of the 2023 City Nature Challenge

What an amazing City Nature Challenge! Our Los Angeles numbers were greater than we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic, including our highest number of participants yet.

As in recent years, this year’s City Nature Challenge focused on collaboration rather than competition. We are celebrating the combined efforts of people all over the world instead of reporting city winners.

Here are the totals:

Worldwide, there were:

  • Observations: 1,870,763
  • Species: 57,227+, including more than 2,570 rare/endangered/threatened species
  • Observers: 66,394
  • Most-observed species globally: Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
  • Cities: 482
  • Countries: 46

Here is how Los Angeles County contributed to the totals:

  • Observations: 25,542
  • Species: 2,646 including 72 rare/endangered/threatened species
  • Observers: 1,671
  • Including 485 people who created their iNaturalist account since the beginning of April and collectively made 3,190 observations and recorded 294 species!
  • Average number of observations per person: 15.29
  • Most observed species in Los Angeles County: Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

This was the eighth year of the City Nature Challenge. In that time, more than 8,000 Los Angeles County residents have made 168,074 observations, and documented more than 6,000 species. With the total species number so much greater than any individual year’s total, it shows the value of this kind of annual event in contributing to our understanding of local biodiversity.

This year’s City Nature Challenge was full of memorable moments in which people connected with nature and each other. One participant shared that their “Wow Moment” was seeing all the nature they live near but didn’t know about. Another enjoyed spending time with their grandma. Others were thrilled by encounters with birds, snakes, bees, ants, and a myriad of other insects as well as having access to scientists who could add a name to what they were seeing.

Events held by the Natural History Museum and our partner organizations included iNaturalist trainings in both English and Spanish, nighttime moth lighting, live bats being cared for by a rehabber, ranger-led hikes, programs on college campuses, and events with games, music, arts and crafts.

Observations came in from all over Los Angeles County–from the high desert to the Channel Islands and everything in between. Many people took to the idea of documenting nature where they live, making a point to record the plants and animals living in their neighborhoods, yards, parkways, and local greenspaces. Not even our lingering rainy season prevented people from getting outside and making observations. See below for a small selection of the many amazing observations made in Los Angeles County and worldwide by new and long-time iNaturalist users alike.

Los Angeles County

Worldwide

We wish to thank all 1,671 observers and 911 identifiers as well as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Boeing, and the following local partner organizations for your participation in the City Nature Challenge: Amigos de los Rios, Audubon Center at Debs Park, County of Los Angeles, Department of Parks & Recreation, Heal the Bay, LA Sanitation & Environment, Los Angeles County Chief Sustainability Office, Los Angeles Zoo, Nature for All, Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, USC Environmental Studies Program, Willow Springs, Office of Sustainability.

Posted on May 8, 2023 11:33 PM by amyjaecker-jones amyjaecker-jones

Comments

Excellent job!!!! :)

Posted by sambiology about 1 year ago

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