City Nature Challenge 2023: Surrey BC's Journal

Congratulations to everyone who participated in Surrey's 4th annual City Nature Challenge. Your contributions pushed us over the top for the highest totals for a single city on the Lower Mainland, and surpassing observations from last year! More info on the Canadian umbrella project here:
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/city-nature-challenge-canada-2023-defi-nature-urbaine.

for international stats Here are the collective results:
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)

A special thanks to Surrey's 100+ 'iNatters'
david_dyck at 383 observations, 146 species
creature_librarian at 316 observations, 153 species
skesau at 157 observations, 88 species
sumeetg at 122 observations, 58 species.

And a special shout out to the almost 200 identifiers that helped get 53% of those 1804 observations to research grade. Just a reminder, if you have time, please see if you can help out with the remaining 804 observations in need of ID. Many of these are tantalizingly close to research grade!

On behalf of the City of Surrey, thank you for all your marathon community science efforts this past week, and over the years. Whether it was the ubiquitous salmonberry or the cryptic candy lichen, your observations continue to provide invaluable information on the state of our local biodiversity. I look forward to your ongoing observations, and stellar showing for the City Nature Challenge 2024, when the City's Biodiversity Conservation Strategy celebrates its tenth year!

With gratitude,
Pamela Zevit RPBio
Biodiversity Conservation Planner
City of Surrey

All of the City of Surrey's observations have now been added.

Way to go everyone! We're just shy of last year's numbers, but we also have lower casual observations which is great!

2022: OBSERVATION: 1,657, SPECIES: 410, IDENTIFIERS: 232, OBSERVERS:77
2023 (today's tally): OBSERVATIONS: 1,633, SPECIES: 409, IDENTIFIERS: 172, OBSERVERS: 70

One more day to go, let's see if we have any last minute adds tomorrow, and thank you to all the identifiers out there helping out.

• 🌺We are now in the uploading and identification period. You all have until 9 am your local time on Monday, May 8th to get all your observations uploaded. You can upload any photos you took from April 28th - May 1st.
• 🌵 Be sure to remind everyone that we’re really hoping to document wild plants and animals, and if they did make observations of organisms they know are not wild, to please mark them as captive/cultivated (and as people work to identify observations, they can also mark anyone’s observation as not wild in the Data Quality Assessment section)
• 🌳 Surrey's results will be recorded as of 9am our time on Monday, May 8. The organizers at California Academy of Sciences will send out the full results and infographic around 2-3pm PT that day.

Get uploading and ID'ing!

In support of this year’s City Nature Challenge, the BC Parks Foundation is running an iNaturalist contest. Participants can sign up on this online form with their iNaturalist handle and make at least one observation from now until May 1 to try and win a $100 Arc’teryx gift card.

Ignore the first instruction for the QR code (that was from post cards they were handing out this weekend). You can can also enter the contest after today as long as your observation is made between April 28 and May 1 (inclusive).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfduVrpP7AT5seKWCoyhlyyzY1JacceHu2Dr-jarGAPLbZYgA/viewform

Good luck!

Just a shout out to everyone busily scouring Surrey for observations this weekend! The weather has been perfect (hot yesterday, cool today) which brings out more variety of wildlife.

I see we've got many folks with 30+ observations, and still going. Whether it's 1 or 101, every contribution counts.

For our City account, we will have blitzed 14 parks by end of the CNC tomorrow, equating to several hundred observations and audio recordings to add. Seems that most of the insects (especially the butterflies, bees, and flies) out now are in hyper mode and too fast to get a good ID for. So, except for the ones that stayed still long enough for a pic, many will be casual. Note to self - time to get a good sweep net.

We'll be close to, or surpass our numbers from last year, and right now we're ahead of Delta, Coquitlam and Richmond. But we won't know actual numbers until the dust settles May 8th.

Enjoy the last day of the CNC tomorrow and thank you for your incredible effort!

As the City Nature Challenge gets going, a gentle reminder that the focus is on wild organisms (native, naturalized or introduced). So no people, pets or livestock. Though are feral animals (e.g., domestic rabbits dumped in a greenspace) or okay. Native plants are also preferred (e.g., avoid houseplants or ornamental garden plants), but noxious weeds or invasive plants in our natural areas are okay.

Get BioBlitzing and have fun out there!

We're just 10 days away from the start of the City Nature Challenge. Help spread the word about the event., share the City's event page and iNaturalist project info.

On top of general observation collection we have several dedicated events this year, including a how to session with iNaturalist expert John Reynolds.
Check out the City of Surrey's CNC event page to learn more about what, where and when.
https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/events/city-nature-challenge

Have you made plans to where you are going to BioBlitz this year! Still thinking about a special spot to go to? Consider doing one of the parks in the "Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity of Guildford" project and double the value of your observations by contributing to this SFU project, and filling the City's local flora and fauna knowledge gaps in some of the lesser visited parks in Surrey. Check out this umbrella project here:
https://inaturalist.ca/journal/surrey-bc_biodiversity/77404-new-local-project-bird-and-butterfly-biodiversity-of-guildford-surrey-bc.

Check out our event page and share widely: https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/events/city-nature-challenge, get your iNaturalist peeps to follow Surrey's account, and join our CNC 2023 project to get updates on partner events happening during the CNC.

Consider organizing a mini BioBlitz in your neighbourhood, with your school, church, temple or other community organization.

And remember it's not just about the 4 days of capturing observations, the remainder of the CNC, from May 2-7 is for getting your observations uploaded, and properly ID'd. You can help other iNaturalist observers in Surrey to properly identify their observations. Maybe even host an ID party!

Correctly ID'd observations that get to research grade provide critical information on the diversity and distribution of plants, wildlife and fungi across the City!

p.s., looking for some great resources to connect to nature in Surrey, check out our Resources for Outdoor Learning page! https://www.surrey.ca/parks-recreation/surrey-parks/park-programs/resources-outdoor-learning