City Nature Challenge 2021: Richmond, BC's Journal

We have officially collected 1824 observations in Richmond, BC for this year's City Nature Challenge! That's almost double the amount collected last year! 476 different species of organisms were identified and we had many new locations covered within the Richmond area this year!

Richmond reached 10th place within Canada and 143rd out of the 419 total cities participating!

Thanks to everyone's hard work and dedication we were able to piece together more valuable information about Richmond's biodiversity and gain a better understanding of the local ecosystem.

Highlights:

• This year's top 10 observed species consisted of 7 birds! (and only one invasive species!)
• Our top 3 observers were @johndreynolds (570 observations), @ladybug108 (197 observations) and myself (@naturewithneill) with 138 observations
• Our first audio observations were made this year!

I would highly recommend reviewing our project observations and species lists to see all of the amazing and unique organisms that were discovered during the challenge!

If you would like to participate next year be sure to keep an eye out for the 2022 City Nature Challenge! Thank you again to all of our observers and identifiers and I hope to see you again next year!

For questions or suggestions for future challenges feel free to message me through iNaturalist, reply below and e-mail me at naturewithneill@gmail.com.

Excellent work everyone!

We just passed 1000 observations Sunday night and today is the last day to make observations that will be collected by the project (you have until midnight tonight).

After the deadline, you can still upload pictures if they were taken between Friday and Monday that will count towards the project, so be sure to submit anything on your phones or cameras within the next few days.

The City Nature Challenge team will be announcing the worldwide results next week and are interested to share any unique observations from all participating cities. I will be scanning through all of our observations to see any to submit but if you have one in particular that you think is of interest let me know (ex: a rare discover, a unique behaviour captured or a great photo...etc)

I will continue to post more updates and pictures through twitter if you are interested to follow more of the project or would like to connect about future projects: https://twitter.com/NaturewithNeill

Thank you to our contributors!

@johndreynolds

@ladybug108
@dabee

@warren38
@perry_c

@susan_chai

@camillelaihm
@angelina_yang

@ella00
@tbhandal
@rworcest
@box_blower

@earthtochristie

@normcc
@avoracado

@kristinekoster
@clementine_cheng

@hooman_tavasoli

@claypot

@mildjon

@tobyye
@lanie8
@asings25
@nancy_wong

@isaaceckert

@pepcmarques

@amander

@jm2021
@karevaradharaj
@nbrockamp

@cgbc
@amy_lee7788

@wheelinbirder

@bruno_vernier

@cando1066

@awsn
@hannahguo

@pineapple_1

@nlum2021
@laniemetrovan

@jdctgp
@seekdeb

@traceychen
@chriscorrigan

@sprashar
@ameyapalande
@tj_tan

@cannon_fodder

@hannahtim

@michaellane1
@richmondgarden
@jenprichmond
@paulbrar
@jasons995

@soilandfood

@gabynarciso

@zedcrustacea
@geesahn

@kimjmcc

@jessek
@xiqingyang
@jdrobe
@dmagdee

@floodek

@erichabisch

@cloreally

@lorinca

Great job everyone!

There are lots of wonderful observations being made! It looks like the weather is in our favour with some welcomed sunshine!

The City Nature Challenge continues until this Monday at midnight! That means you can make as many observations as you can and upload them when possible until that time. If you are having trouble with identification that is ok! There are lots of users in the iNaturalist community that can help with identification once your observation is uploaded!

Observation tips!

1. You can submit up to 4 pictures within one observation, this allows you to take pictures from different angles of a plant/animal help with identification. Check out this very useful guide for information: https://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/downloads/booklets-handouts/iNaturalist-Photo-Guide-Final.pdf
2. To be more efficient, you can take pictures on your device while in the field and then upload them to iNaturalist later at home to maximize your photo taking time
3. Stop, Look and Listen! Many plants and animals can be easily overlooked while your are passing through an area (yesterday I just missed a snake that was right in front of me that I didn't see until it slithered into the forest!). Listening also helps you to notice animals that you cannot yet see such as chirping birds and buzzing insects.

You are all doing a wonderful job! Spread the word if you can so that we can get as many observations as possible!

If there are any questions, or excited discoveries please post in the comments below!

Our contributors!

@ladybug108 @johndreynolds @warren38 @dabee @perry_c @susan_chai@lanie8 @camillelaihm @jm2021 @tobyye @earthtochristie @karevaradharaj @clementine_cheng @angelina_yang @claypot
@amy_lee7788 @avoracado @pineapple_1 @seekdeb @chriscorrigan @michaellane1 @jasons995
@soilandfood @laniemetrovan @cando1066 @kristinekoster @cloreally

Join the 2021 City Nature Challenge and represent Richmond, BC!

To participate in the City Nature Challenge you just need to make observations of local wildlife (take pictures and upload to iNaturalist) between April 30th and May 3rd!.

Richmond participants can view their community progress on this page during the event and afterwards to see what was discovered!

Remember to follow social distancing protocols to protect yourself and others and please be respectful to wildlife by taking pictures from a safe distance.

What sort of wildlife should you observe? Anything that is or was alive that appears natural. For example, if you come across a public garden, the plants would not count as wildlife as they were intentionally introduced by people. However, if you see birds, squirrels and insects within the garden, those would count as wildlife because they arrived to that area on their own accord. Please do not take pictures of people, pets or house plants.

Why is this important?
By documenting local wildlife we can learn more about the ecosystem that we share with many other living things while also providing valuable data to scientists and the community!

If you would like more up to date information feel free to follow me on twitter @NaturewithNeill as I post updates and information!

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to post in the comments below!