City Nature Challenge 2023: South Florida (#CNCSOFLO)'s Journal

Hi everyone!

We are a little under three weeks away from the beginning of the 2023 City Nature Challenge! With the CNC right around the corner, we wanted to make sure everyone is aware of a few resources that may be particularly helpful. I will also be providing an online training Wednesday, April 13th from 3:30PM-4:30PM via Zoom. You can join the zoom on Wednesday here: https://ufl.zoom.us/my/coreytcallaghan and the CNCsoflo website calendar has more info: https://www.cncsoflo.com/events-2

CNCSOFLO website:
https://www.cncsoflo.com/
Check the site out for events during the CNC weekend.
If you are planning on hosting an event, make sure to register your event so we can include it on the site!

@cncsoflo Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/cncsoflo/?hl=en
Follow our Instagram for interactive posts including quizzes and polls about South Florida biodiversity.

Looking for best practices and other info about iNaturalist? The links below will come in handy. Feel free to share with anyone who is new to iNaturalist or wants to learn more about how to navigate the website & database.
Why iNaturalist?- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s9JPUY6oZZq_iWyH-xE6ZMyTaxazjPqm/view?usp=share_link
Best practices & things to avoid- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-uzRKVVu4qfxU2j3WM9y_fibd8B756Pb/view?usp=share_link
How to upload and use iNaturalist- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R25YIzmZvO0V48Sa7_ycgcE4b03Lj8K3/view?usp=share_link
Research Grade, Needs ID, Casual Grade explained-https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OmLzvL_l-PjDXbfDgLjXkF0x_qgO2U19/view?usp=sharing
iNat extras (cool features newer users may not be familiar with)- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RcOcIleKdAuwYnePPF4FmsF-cB0pTSyF/view?usp=sharing

South Florida Lawn Weeds Guide:
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/9022
Did you know lawn weeds are one of the easiest examples of biodiversity to observe just about anywhere you go? This guide includes the most common lawn weeds found in South Florida, loosely in order from most common & widely distributed to least common. While photographing lawn weeds, keep an eye out for pollinators and other little critters that use them as habitat!

Community service
Do you know any students in need of community service hours? You can contact me at joemdo.inaturalist@gmail.com with the student's username and I will provide community service hours equal to 1 hour for every 10 observations posted during the City Nature Challenge. The observations need to be either Needs ID or Research Grade to count. For more info, check out the following document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wnT6_MFbu6zIdjT9fknLXnRGsW_EOGZi/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for reading and happy iNatting!
-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO Team

Hi CNCSOFLO participants!

Hope you've had a great time using iNaturalist to log South Florida's biodiversity so fa.! We are less than halfway through the four-day City Nature Challenge and we are already at over 7,500 observations! Last year we totaled 11,500, so we are well on track to beat all of our numbers. Remember to keep an eye out for biodiversity wherever you are for these next few days. Checking porch lights at night can produce some pretty cool insect sightings and if you head to the beach, shells count, too! Don't get even get me started on lawn weeds... they are everywhere and can have any number of critters visiting the flowers for nectar and pollen :-)

If you need some tips on where to find biodiversity and how to document what you find, here is a link to some best practices: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-uzRKVVu4qfxU2j3WM9y_fibd8B756Pb/view

If you are looking for a fun event to join, check out the CNCSOFLO calendar here: https://www.cncsoflo.com/events-2

Don't forget to spread the word to any other nature lovers you know :-D

P.S. we are currently in EIGHTH place out of over 400 cities around the world for observation count!! Keep up the great work!!

-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO team