City Nature Challenge 2023: Teton County, WY's Journal

Thank you for participating in the 2023 City Nature Challenge! Globally over 65,000 people participated from 482 city teams. There were 1.9 MILLION observations of cataloging nearly 58,000 species of which 2,570 are rare/endangered. Read more about the global event on the 2023 CNC journal.

In our local BioBlitz, we made 335 observations, cataloguing 155 species (8 of which are threatened/endangered). The most popular species to observe was tree swallow. Our observations included:

• 46 plant species
• 46 birds species
• 25 insects species
• 15 mammal species
• 4 arachnid species
• 4 mollusk species
• 4 fungi species
• 2 fish species
• 1 amphibian species

Nearly 40% are already research grade and can immediately be used for research. Many more will eventually be identified to research grade.

Our BioBlitz also WON the regional Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge. Teton County had the highest per capita participation of all the communities in the challenge. Thanks to the Teton Science School Grad Program for their outreach efforts. Helping at Munger Elementary BioBlitz and the R-Park Educational Event helped get the word out and improve the quality of our observations.

If you had fun participating in the City Nature Challenge, consider participating in future BioBlitzes. These are spread out across the year, which will give an opportunity to explore and record our amazing biodiversity. But you don’t have to wait for a BioBlitz to post observations. Spring is finally here!

Upcoming Bioblitzes in and around Teton County

2023 Summer Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge

• Dates: Thursday, June 8 - Sunday, June 11
• Umbrella Project with all participating counties: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-summer-northern-rocky-mountain-biodiversity-challenge-nrmbc
• Teton County, WY: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-summer-nrmbc-teton-county-wy
• Teton County, ID: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-summer-nrmbc-teton-county-id
• All Wyoming participating counties: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-summer-nrmbc-wyoming-umbrella-project
• All Idaho participating counties: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-summer-nrmbc-idaho-umbrella-project

2023 Wyoming Bioblitz

• Dates: Friday, July 21 - Monday, July 24
• Teton, Sublette and Fremont Counties: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-wyoming-bioblitz-teton-sublette-and-fremont
• I will add a link to the umbrella project when it is available.

2023 Fall Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge

• Dates: Thursday, September 14 - Sunday, September 17
• Umbrella Project with all participating counties: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-fall-northern-rocky-mountain-biodiversity-challenge-nrmbc
• Teton County, WY: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-fall-nrmbc-teton-county-wy
• Teton County, ID: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/2023-fall-nrmbc-teton-county-id

Featured Photos:

Tree Swallow Observation by @mmeslobos

Moose Observation by @delbachert

Stone Centipede Observation by @mmeslobos

Mountain Snail Observation by @alorenz

Bison Observation by @bkuhn21

Bladder Snail Observation by @lredler

Mountain Lion Track Observation by @nataliej907

Mourning Cloak Observation by @whitneybrook

Waiting for permission

Redside Shiner Observation by @erik789

Thank you to everyone that participated in the City Nature Challenge for Teton County! I am beyond thrilled at the level of engagement we had. We have 327 observations that captured at least 145 species. The 19 observers we show on the project is an undercount because we know that the Munger Mountain Elementary School BioBlitz supported by Teton Science School reached a much broader audience.

You can still post observations that were made during the challenge until May 7. Final results will be calculated and posted on the project page on May 8.

The iNat volunteer identifiers are hard at work going through over 1.5 MILLION observations made globally over this year’s City Nature Challenge. Don’t worry if your observation isn’t IDed immediately. It may take a while to get through them all.

If you want to help with the ID effort, some resources for learning to ID via iNat are below.

Learning to ID on iNaturalist

• Short video on IDing for the City Nature Challenge
• iNat community guidelines - not specific to identification, but essential background as you increase your engagement with iNat
• Identification etiquette tutorial
• Video tutorial for Identify Page. You can also click into the observations from the identify page. I suggest playing around with both approaches to see what works for you.
• Useful iNat Tasks for Nonexperts - guidance on identifying unknowns and other ways to engage with iNaturalist
• iNat Frequently Used Responses
• Help with IDs for our CNC project, you can use this link.
• Help with IDs without date restrictions here are links for Teton County WY and Teton County ID.
  
• Help ID Unknowns for the 2023 Global CNC

Observation by @sacjackson

Observation by @birder0288

Observation by @will1929

Observation by @shea0307

Observation by @mmeslobos

Wow! We have had such amazing participation and there are so many wonderful observations.

Thanks to the Teton Science School for their support of the CNC in Teton County. Without you, we would not have had nearly as much engagement. They worked with a science teacher at Munger Mountain Elementary to lead a BioBlitz yesterday, resulting in 70 observations. Today, they coordinated an event at Rendezvous Park with educational tables, field kits, and an art activity. Shout out as well to Trout Unlimited and the Town of Jackson for sending representatives to provide education on our local wildlife conservation efforts.

So far, the project has 207 observations of at least 92 species!!! Considering that it was just snowing on Tuesday and there is still snow in the valley, this is impressive. Birds are dominating the list with 78 observations. Insects and arachnids have also been getting attention, which is fantastic because they are underrepresented in iNat on our area. Many of the animals that we associate with the Tetons were also observed including:

• Greater Sage Grouse
• Mountain Bluebird
• Moose
• Elk/Wapiti
• Bison
• Big Horn Sheep

Unexpected finds included 2 frogs. Is there anything in our observations that surprised you? Have you seen something unexpected?

The trail report from Friends of Pathways said that almost all of our trails still have snow, except Adams Canyon (behind the recycling center). I checked out Nelson Knob and Putt Putt today. Nelson Knob is clear, but Putt Putt is still snow covered to the parking lot. Still tomorrow looks like it will be another gorgeous day and we are fortunate to have many places to view wildlife in our community. Enjoy yourself and Happy iNatting!

Teton Counties WY and ID will be participating in this year’s City Nature Challenge April 28 - May 1. You can learn more about this world wide event by checking out the project is here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023-teton-county-wy. You do not need to join the project to participate, but consider joining to receive updates.

As luck would have it, we’re finally supposed to have a sunny weekend without snow! That should make for great conditions to observe organisms that thrive in the early spring. On the project site, you will also find information about the CNC and additional BioBlitzes occurring this year.

It’s pretty hard to know who among the top IDers in the area are local and might be around in the shoulder season. I looked for users that seem to have most of their observations from around the area and users with recent activity. I’ve tagged people I think might be interested below.
@alorenz, @swhippss, @kerrykey, @humblegardener, @paulgraham, @john1569, @orindaacademy, @birder0288, @nhwinterrose, @mmeslobos, @hydapse, @jackofalltrades, @williamp25, @casey_keeley, @jonahand, @lranelli

Happy iNatting!

Find and record as many WILD animals, plants, fungi and other species as possible during this year’s City Nature Challenge. This global collaborative event motivates people to connect to nature and engage with citizen science.

• Join this project to receive updates and monitor progress on Teton County in the 2023 CNC.
• Check out observations from around the world in the 2023 global CNC.
• See how we are doing relative to other communities in the region in the 2023 CNC Northern Rocky Mountain Challenge.

Goals of the CNC

• Connect people to their local nature
• Connect people to each other: build community in person & online around local nature
• Collect biodiversity data available to use for science, management, and conservation
• Grow volunteer biodiversity documentation globally
• Have fun through some friendly competition!

How to Participate

Create an iNatualist account and consider downloading an app

• How to use iNaturalist or Getting started with iNaturalist
• iNaturalist App: Apple, Android
• Seek App: Apple, Android
• iNaturalist vs Seek

Observe WILD organisms between Friday April 28 and Sunday May 1

• Written guides on creating/uploading observations
• Video tutorials on creating/uploading observations
• Mark organisms that are NOT wild as captive/cultivated
• Only observations within Teton County, WY and Teton County, ID during this timeframe will count. However, observations in other locations and taken at other times still contribute to the iNaturalist citizen scientist effort.
  

Finish uploading organisms by Sunday May 7

• If you don’t want to (or can’t) upload during the bioblitz, you can upload pictures to the website or app after you observe them.
• Global results will be announced Monday May 8, 2023.

Help identify organisms

• We try to identify as much as we can by May 7, but the identification process is ongoing. Experts and enthusiasts continually improve identifications and align taxonomy to reflect the most recent scientific evidence.
• Anyone can help identify unknowns
• If you have expertise (trained professional OR local knowledge), you can help identify species you are familiar with.

Monitor your observations as they are identified to keep learning

• View notifications in the apps or website.
• Turn on email notifications to receive a daily digest of updates to your observations.

Upcoming bioblitzes in Teton County

• 2023 Summer Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge: June 8 - June 11
• Wyoming BioBlitz: July 21-24
• 2023 Fall Northern Rocky Mountain Biodiversity Challenge: September 14 - September 17, 2023

The CNC has developed an FAQ specific to the event.
iNaturalist has a very useful FAQ.

Ask questions as comments on this journal post and I will try to answer them here. I have selected some FAQs from the above resources.

How do I protect my privacy? How do I avoid disclosing the location of sensitive areas and threatened organisms?

• Threaten species have their locations obscured by iNaturalist.
• You can also obscure the locations of any of your observations when uploading.
• More about geoprivacy on iNat.

What if I don't know what the organism is that I took a picture of? How do my observations get identified?
No problem! You don’t have to know what species it is you took a photo of - you just need to take a good enough photo (or photos) that it can be identified (see tips for taking good photos). There are a couple ways you can get your observations IDed:

• iNaturalist has Computer Vision/Artificial Intelligence (AI) built into it, and when you make an observation with the app or upload an observation on the web, as long as you have connectivity iNaturalist will give you suggestions about what it thinks you just took a photo of. It will provide you with a list of suggestions that are both “Visually Similar” AND “Seen Nearby.” Because this functionality is built on observations that other people have already made, in some places you may get many “Visually Similar” AND “Seen Nearby” suggestions, and in other places the AI may only provide a few suggestions. You can expand the list to see suggestions that meet only one of those criteria, but we recommend choosing a suggestion from the initial list. See below for tips on when you should or shouldn’t use these suggestions. If none of the AI suggestions seem correct, you can type in your own identification using the search bar, at any level of detail you know (e.g., “California poppy” or “Plants” are both fine to use as an ID!)
  *Once you upload an observation it can be seen by the entire iNaturalist community, and this is true for many of the other platforms being used by cities. The community can agree with the ID you made, help refine an ID to get it to species level, or correct a mis-identification. Remember though, you need to have taken a good enough photo (or set of photos) that other people can ID the organism you saw! It’s important to remember that all identifications on iNaturalist are made by other users who are all volunteering their time to identify observations; there are no iNaturalist staff members who are paid to add identifications.

Tips for Using the iNaturalist Computer Vision/AI

• The Computer Vision/Artificial Intelligence (AI) on iNaturalist is a fun and useful feature that can provide real-time feedback about the observations you’re making. The iNaturalist AI will give you suggestions for ID, but they’re just that—suggestions. Because of this, there are some things to keep in mind to make sure you’re using the AI in the best and most responsible way:
• Check how confident iNaturalist is in the suggestions: The iNaturalist AI will never give you one single suggestion of one species. Instead, based on the photograph you provided and how much information it has about the species in your area, it will offer a list of suggestions, with some information about how confident it is in these suggestions. If it has confidence in the list of suggestions, it will always display a taxonomic level higher than species at the top of the list and say that it is pretty sure your organism is in that group. Then it will give you an initial list of species suggestions that are both “visually similar” to your photo and have been “seen nearby.” If iNaturalist is not confident in its suggestions, it won’t display a higher taxonomic level and will state that it is not confident enough to make a recommendation. It will still display species suggestions, but those suggestions will likely encompass a wide range of organisms that look somewhat similar to your photograph. We recommend only choosing a species suggestion if the iNaturalist AI is “pretty sure” about the ID.
• Use suggestions that are visually similar and seen nearby: If the iNaturalist AI is “pretty sure,”will give you an initial list of species suggestions that are both “visually similar” to your photo and have been “seen nearby.” You can expand that list to see suggestions that only meet one of those criteria, but we recommend sticking with a selection from the initial list!
• Learn more about the suggested species: In the list of suggested species, you can see the name of the species as well as a tiny thumbnail, which can make it difficult to tell if a suggested species seems like the correct ID to your observation. All of those suggestions, though, link to a species information page, where you can see larger photos, read about the species, and see a map of where others have observed it. If it seems like you’ve found a match to your organism, you can even select it as the ID from within the species page.
• Make your own ID: If, after going through all the tips above, you don’t think you’ve found a likely suggestion for your observation, you can always enter your own ID by using the search bar. If you know the species, you can type in a species ID, but you’re also welcome to make an ID at a much higher level, for example “plants” or “birds” or “beetles.” By putting at least some level of identification on your observation, you make it much easier for other iNaturalist members who can help refine that ID to find your observation, rather than leaving it blank.