Under 10 hours until the start of the City Nature Challenge here in Boston!
Here in Boston, we have under 10 hours before our adventure begins, but our friends and competitors in the eastern hemisphere have already started their CNCs! Check out the City Nature Challenge 2024 umbrella projects to watch LIVE as participating cities around the world start to log observations. Our Boston project will be showing up in the North and South America project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-north-and-south-america
One of our goals this year is to maximize our project's observations that become research grade. There are two major ways you can help us achieve this ambitious goal:
Be an identifier
If you are a professional scientist studying a specific taxon, a birder or member of another more niche group, an amateur naturalist, or just a regular person that knows a few local species, this is one of the most impactful ways to be involved. On the home page of this project, click "Observations" then the "Identify" button. In the "Species" search bar, type the name of the organism group (can be any taxon level) that you know how to identify, and get started!
Take identifiable observations
Photos that are blurry or very far away from the organism cannot be identified. Make sure that the photos you post are clear, and the organism is visible. If it is far away in the picture, post a zoomed in photo, or add a comment to your observation post that tells identifiers where the organism is located in the frame. Sometimes photos from specific angles or of certain parts of the organism's body are needed for identification. Check out this photo guide to learn how to take easily-identifiable observations.
