Help your state capitol area win the City Nature Challenge!

The Triangle Area is competing against 15 other large urban areas nationwide this weekend in the City Nature Challenge - and we need your help!

The City Nature Challenge asks participants in any of the 16 competing cities to document species they find on iNaturalist over a 5 day period from April 14-18. In spite of the large area we've included as part of our Challenge site (a good part of central and east-central NC), our population is still much smaller than most of the other cities we're up against. We have our work cut out for us and the competition is likely to be fierce, so we need YOU to win!

The logistics: The CNC runs from 12:00 AM on Friday, 4/14 through 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 4/18. All observations collected during that time in the greater Triangle Area (and I mean greater - the area is big, so check out the map above!) count toward the Challenge. The national event organizers at the Natural History Museum of LA County and California Academy of Sciences are announcing results on 4/22, so try to get all your observations uploaded by noon that day. The more observations we can get identified down to species by then, the higher our species number will be and the better chance we'll have to win. You do NOT have to join the City Nature Challenge: Triangle Area project to submit sightings - we're auto-adding observations for this event.

Here's how you can help:

If you're in the greater Triangle Area, get outside, take photos of the plants, animals, and fungi you encounter, and submit them to iNaturalist! Only photos taken DURING the event will count, so plan to spend some time outdoors this weekend and upload your sightings as soon as you can.

If you're from outside the Triangle, you can still help by either visiting our part of the state to make observations or by looking over the observations submitted and contributing IDs. Only things IDed to species will ultimately count in our favor, so the more ID help we get, the better.

As an incentive for participating, we have prizes available for the top three contributors (# of observations) to our local Challenge! I (@chrisgoforth) will contact you through iNaturalist if you win to ask for a mailing address where I can send your loot.

There are several places you can join others to help us win the Challenge! We've got downtown urban nature walks, special lectures, and a cart program outside the Naturalist Center scheduled at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences (11 W Jones St, Raleigh) on Friday, 4/14. We're taking the Challenge to Prairie Ridge Ecostation (1671 Gold Star Drive, Raleigh) on Saturday, 4/15. Join us there for naturalist guided hikes on our 45 acre wildlife preserve, visit our education stations, or get help with iNaturalist. We have awesome vinyl water bottle/laptop style stickers available as a thank you for helping us document the species at Prairie Ridge while you participate in the Challenge! All of the NCMNS-based activities are listed on our event listing at http://naturalsciences.org/calendar/event/city-nature-challenge-triangle-area/.

NCSU is also participating! They've got campus walks scheduled for Thursday 4/13 and Monday 4/17, so please join them there if it's more convenient for you. Learn more at https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfpack-citizen-science-challenge.

And finally, if you'd like to follow along with the national event, you can check out the other cities and review the leaderboard online at https://nhm.org/nature/citizen-science/city-nature-challenge-2017-leaderboard. Hopefully you'll see us take an early lead - and keep it for the win!

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences is excited to bring this event to the Triangle Area. Please let @chrisgoforth know if you have any questions. Otherwise we hope we'll join us to win the 2017 City Nature Challenge this weekend!

@allenratzlaff @loriannkayaker @scadwell @reallifeecology @jtuttle @johnnybirder @coatlicue @eraskin @annwf @kevinemetcalf @shstuddard @thewayfarer21 @jmarchal @wolfhoundgirl @rostamam @robvanepps @whiteoak @jstanley @milopyne @bonnieeamick @bluets15 @erikamitchell @jfox16 @earthstephen @musicwolf @kgardner @sarracenia @bradleysaul @caterpillarscount @ggnoma @mkosiewski @james5 @rcarroll @ditchontologist @heartsabustin @hydaticus @clintcalhoun @tybstar @edcoreyncdpr @charlie @discoverycamp @biology2016 @steve_kerr @jkspooner @sciencecandance @botanygirl @tamara_alexandra @sbetzen @adair @arleigh @dc_chadwick @marystarkp @kucycads @abeck365 @jspruill @wildmarin @cullen @calopteryx @arunima @awarren1unca @cdance @mijo @thomaspollard @layla @sarahdacres @jwochos @aredoubles @kmpetteruti @kylecmsmith @lampas @edwardbarrettt83 @cary2 @annagypsy @bjoelle @fungi-lover518 @tortuga_rapido @aprilbyrge @erasmus @glesener @gparkins @thecradleandme @jokurtz @torsten @jacobogre @ruggedbynature @fm5050 @ambermae @gyrrlfalcon @kate_wagner @finatic @kbeza31979 @vulpes-vulpes @merekitty @anudibranchmom @jwochos @ash2016 @kburke @whalend @jen4932 @georgepauly

Publicado el abril 11, 2017 11:11 TARDE por chrisgoforth chrisgoforth

Comentarios

Very exciting! Looking forward to seeing the observations streaming in, and the local iNat 'fieldguides' expanding! Keep an eye out for morels, for those into mushroom foraging! This year seems to be a bumper year for them!

Publicado por johnnybirder hace casi 7 años

So glad you are doing this in North Carolina! I'll be helping my local team in the San Francisco Bay Area, but maybe one year I'll travel to some other city for the fun...and for new species!

Publicado por gyrrlfalcon hace casi 7 años

I wish San Diego were doing this. @amplex4love maybe next year the SDSU NHC can do something. Glad to see NC participating.

Publicado por finatic hace casi 7 años

No san diego? You could drive up to LA county. or do an unofficial san diego one

Publicado por charlie hace casi 7 años

the most important thing is that the bay area doesn't win :)

Publicado por charlie hace casi 7 años

A-hem! We're not the NYYankees or something. We are the humble, lovable Bay Area. Plus I bet North Carolina wins in a remarkably heart-warming story of the rookies who could!

Publicado por gyrrlfalcon hace casi 7 años

but is the bay area the Yankees in this competition because you started out with the advantage (where iNaturalist started)? Ok granted you aren't paying for extra players with your huge bags of money. and also I guess LA won last year so that doesn't make sense either. If LA were the dodgers they'd be winning until the last minute then totally lose badly. I'd be ok with NC winning though, would be awesome. Or Boston. their region is super tiny though.

Publicado por charlie hace casi 7 años

ps. i don't know all that much about baseball :)

Publicado por charlie hace casi 7 años

Local iNatters @rolandisimo @cotinis @stgiery @gmskupien may also be interested.

Publicado por johnnybirder hace casi 7 años

Thanks for tagging them @johnnybirder! I can't believe I forgot them...

Publicado por chrisgoforth hace casi 7 años

Hey, @chrisgoforth, i'm a North Carolina native (and UNC grad) now working out here in the north SF Bay area. I hope you Tar Heel state folks get a lot of participants and observations. I cut my baby teeth as a naturalist in Duke Forest and the Mason Farm Botanical Reserve in Chapel Hill. I'm looking forward to seeing what y'all come up with.

Publicado por wildmarin hace casi 7 años

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