Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2019: Maui

We will be doing a night-lighting session next to the pond behind Azeka Mauka during the Kihei Fourth Friday event on Friday, April 26. Come swing by and check out the light station, go enjoy the night market and come by again to see what else has showed up at the light. We will be setting up prior to sunset, but will get started in earnest around 7 PM and hang out for a couple of hours. Hope to see you there. https://www.meetup.com/Maui-Nui-Natural-History/events/260323156/

Aloha!
We are less than a week away from the City Nature Challenge and Earth Day is a great excuse (Did you really need one?) to add an observation to iNaturalist. Its easy to forget that iNat is indeed a citizen Science project and your observations provide actual data that can contribute to preventing the spread of invasive species here in Hawaii and help resource managers understand the distribution of rare and endangered species to better manage their recovery.

Also, now it a great time to help spread the word about Maui's participation in the City Nature Challenge. Encourage your friends to participate in the Maui Event : https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-maui
or check out the full list of participating cities to see if there is a CNC event near you: http://citynaturechallenge.org/city-list-2019/

🌏Happy Earth Day! 🌎
-John

PS- If you are mentioned below, you are among the top iNat observers on Maui. If you are on Maui during this year's CNC, I hope you'll get out and help us represent this year! Mahalo!

 @sea-kangaroo @hawaiianbuffalo @glmory @damontighe
 @vils_bioblitz_kalama @anudibranchmom @anthonywood @brandonli
 @philiptdotcom @c4b @mauiphp @pliffgrieff @gonodactylus
 @maui_manini @carinali22 @dpom @peterburke @tadd_k @tristanlknight
 @evantweedie @stinger @utopia4sharing  @aboulenein  @wyattherp
 @treichard  @davidr  @tigran82  @jrgraham  @bluewavechris
 @ttatum19  @ktatum21  @vivienneo  @wenatcheeb  @sgamponia
 @gerfderp  @snakeinmypocket @zepoq @waiside13 @bridgetspencer
 @zoethierfelder @lylegordon @colinmorita @taylorsaunders
 @mjplagens @christophermayhew @todd_jackson @bailey_gadberry
 @cullen @eastwind @rileypollom @crusty @nanofishology
 @birdspaz @nationalparker @briellereid @bethanydixon
 @lsyama @ty-sharrow @cizauskas @cochise @taylorbartosh
 @npdoty @justinscioli @learningendeavors2 @maui @bradford7
 @chrismoody @debaraj @seipgrows @evekearns @jnstuart
 @kathawk @twgourley @adamjmtz @chrisrohrer @cydno
 @dingerdynasty @rangertreaty50 @ashferlito @sandycmaui
 @slsfirefight @jackattack321 @katyfrei @keyboardwolf @crayonponyfish
 @isaacthelord @kaelag @mangofromheaven @annikaml @rkjohns
 @joshsilberg @tiyumq @ericcleveland @corvidae @ericsimons @leslie_flint
 @sarahlynne @vils_bioblitz_lokelani @zooillogix @paultavares
 @b_on_maui @flyfisherking @hippoandme @naturesguide @tsoleau @jonwbecker
 @carolyncardilelovesbirds @cheethaj @learningendeavors @rhjackso @brucewbailey
 @ferrisjabr @jimpea @khatattack @pueo @shiningb1ade @stephen92 @blancadog
 @earthfinder @eburroughs @jaeckerb @joshlikessurf @geoff19

The global City Nature Challenge started with Christchurch, New Zealand at 3 AM Maui time yesterday and our event started right after midnight this morning. Any observation you take with iNaturalist on Maui over the next four days will be automatically included in the challenge (no need to add it to this project).

While we certainly encourage you to get out and keep making observations over the next four days, we also hope to see you at one of our organized events. The first is next to the Kihei Fourth Friday night market on Piikea Avenue. Join us as we night light for insects along the southern pond. Tomorrow we'll have a morning nature walk along the Kealia Boardwalk. For details visit https://www.meetup.com/Maui-Nui-Natural-History/ or https://mauinui.org.

Happy iNatting!

On Saturday, April 27 at 9 AM, we are going to be collecting iNaturalist observations along the Kealia Boardwalk this morning and then exploring the beach and tidepools on the way back. This is our second CNC event meetup. Details here: https://www.meetup.com/Maui-Nui-Natural-History/events/256550010/

The City Nature Challenge is starting to wrap up around the world as the day just ended in Christchurch, New Zealand. Maui will be the 'city' to officially end the event at midnight tonight, so keep observing throughout the day!

Remember, observations don't need to be spectacular to count. That weed in the parking lot counts just as much as a humpback whale. That myna bird on the hood of your car counts just as much as a nene!

At the end of yesterday, we were remarkably close to our stats from last year. 232 observations with 150 species, 27 identifiers and 15 participants. I am sure we will up those numbers today, so happy iNatting!

Aloha -
Thanks everyone that participated in this year's City Nature Challenge. You can check out the overall initial stats on both the Maui event and the Global event (Over 800,000 observations this year ... so far!). https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019

Over the next week you can still upload any observations made between April 27-29 and contribute identifications. The hard deadline for uploads and identifications is May 6. Identifications are important as observations must be research grade to count in the final CNC tally. If you have knowledge about local fauna and flora, please consider lending your expertise to improve the quality of the observations taken during the CNC.

Mahalo!

PS - I'd like to acknowledge (and ask for help with IDs) from the top 50 iNaturalist identifiers for observations from Maui. Thank you for all you do to improve iNaturalist and helping clear the fog on things iNat users have seen.

@phelsumas4life @maractwin @sea-kangaroo @sgamponia
@davidr @lisa_bennett @kemper @hfb @rajibmaulick @cdaehler
@jstarmer @maxallen @thatkazakhbirder @john8 @cthawley
@ronbrasher @karimhaddad @predomalpha @ejliaw @adamt2
@aguilita @johnascher @maxkirsch @tim_wilms @pliffgrieff
@silversea_starsong @philiptdotcom @loarie @mtank @dbarclay
@psweet @lynnbeittel @chris971 @tiwane @srall @lotteryd
@jasonrgrant @cydno @nlblock @ekmes @susanhewitt @johngsalamander
@nationalparker @vanhoutan @sultana @choess @adamwang @charliev
@jbroadhead @motmot