Thank you, and a summary of findings

Kia ora tātou,

While I wasn’t involved in organising the City Nature Challenge, I seem to be able to post in the journal, so…

Well done and thanks to everyone who participated in Wellington’s City Nature Challenge for 2021. Particular acknowledgement to @wild_wind, @surfersoph22, @kiwihunter, and @rempson for their enthusiasm to document big numbers of observations and species.

Please see Lara’s blog for a summary of findings and some of the highlights: https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2021/05/12/highlights-from-wellingtons-city-nature-challenge-2021/

Wellington was neck-and-neck with Christchurch through the Monday, but then they brought out their big guns and powered ahead. If it’s any consolation, Wellington has a higher proportion of Research Grade observations.

I don’t know if Wellington will participate in 2022. However, if you’ve got ideas for future participation (e.g., expand “Wellington” to include Porirua and the Hutt Valley; more systematic searching; public events; working in teams etc.), perhaps below is a good place to record them.

Ngā mihi, Leon

@wild_wind, @surfersoph22, @kiwihunter, @rempson, @tony_wills, @jeanro, @nzric, @christopherstephens, @jacog, @shaun_thompson, @schneehagen, @kate39, @joedillon, @carolwest, @bridget_h, @jwhite, @williambrockelsby, @dougalt, @toralav, @cdstruthers, @heidimeudt, @siobhanleachman, @antkusabs, @cmwb, @modest_moth, @tessa_islandbay, @elisebailey, @roberta_d_archino, @schneehagen

@naturewatchwidow, @parkecology, @leonperrie

Publicado el mayo 13, 2021 08:00 MAÑANA por leonperrie leonperrie

Comentarios

Nice to hang out with the Entomological and Botanical people.

Publicado por christopherstephens hace casi 3 años

Thanks Leon. It wasn't on my radar until the last minute! Had fun re-capturing some of the "usual suspects" in the back yard, though would have liked to plan a few more trips further afield if I had known. Perhaps next time if we are still in it. Would also be keen to join up with others going "on safari". Cheers, Dougal.

Publicado por dougalt hace casi 3 años

I've been tossing up organising an event with uni students- not sure really how many would turn up/how enthused they would be. I suspect not very.
Otherwise I might go it solo and get three days off work to do 20km walks each day. I'll be trying to get some areas which weren't looked at this time around esp the upper part of Te Kopahou, and the long ridge from Houghton Bay all the way up to Jerningham Bay to the North of Mt Vic.
Eitherway, I'd love for Wellington City to organise another one, I think it will definitely help them i.e. in pest species surveillance, general info gathering, and as we've seen that iNat is capable of doing, recording new species for the city. Think another Asplenium lamprophyllum.

Publicado por joedillon hace casi 3 años

Thanks Leon. It certainly helped that it was a nice weekend to get out and about -> so organising similar weather for future events could be important! I didn't have a plan in advance and realised later on how useful that would have been. I got most of the forest birds (the area I know best) relatively quickly and easily, so the key to doing better next time would be brushing up on plant, invertebrate and rocky shore taxonomy - and likely locations, and maybe more coordination between people on how to get some of the trickier species.

BTW I have attempted a comment on Lara's blog (not sure if it's now hiding in a moderation/approval process), but wanted to note that the New Zealand grass skink (Oligosoma polychroma) in the "Amazing photography" section was located and posted to iNaturalist by @kiwihunter but the photo is by LF who was passing - @kiwihunter didn't have a camera in hand (as noted on the iNaturalist obs).

Publicado por kiwihunter hace casi 3 años

Thanks Leon ! I would suggest to add Eastbourne for next session, and I would find 10x more than I found in Otari as usual ;)
Also, if a bit closer to summer, that would be awesome ! Especially for staying at night in the bush without catching the flu :p.
Anyway that was very funny, and interesting !
Cheers

Publicado por jeanro hace casi 3 años

@pomval here is the summary of the participation to the challenge, I thank you to help me to spot nice species !

Publicado por jeanro hace casi 3 años

Thanks @kiwihunter - I'll get that fixed on the photo caption:-)
I know what you mean about the weather - I mentioned to Leon that if we are better organised with events and advertising them next year then the weather is bound to be awful!

Publicado por naturewatchwidow hace casi 3 años

Regarding weather, the challenge is timed to suit northern hemisphere = spring, so we start off on the back foot. But, given that we haven't got the population to compete with large international cities, perhaps we should just run an NZ, spring, intercity challenge.

One thing that annoyed me is this:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2021-04-30&d2=2021-05-03&not_in_project=92856&place_id=40531&subview=map&verifiable=any

Some of a bunch of observations that got automatically excluded because the species was anywhere from declining to endangered. So a bunch of rare things (like most animals reintroduced to Zealandia) ended up missing from our species count. This happens, not because they were explicitly excluded but because the 'obscuration' box (surrounding their exact location) extends beyond the city boundary frame - so, as they might be outside the area, they're not included in the challenge project (the same sort of thing happens when observations have a large 'accuracy' circle that extends beyond the boundary [especially likely for coastal observations], or when participants obscure their location when filming in their backyard. Having a larger boundary that would include any obscured locations might be the only way to ensure rare stuff is included.

Publicado por tony_wills hace casi 3 años

I agree with Tony, I think it would be an excellent idea to have the challenge during months where we can see a greater amount of diversity.

Publicado por shaun_thompson hace casi 3 años

Note that the Great Southern Bioblitz is a spring-time southern hemisphere equivalent of the City Nature Challenge.

New Zealand didn't push this last year, but districts in Australia, southern Africa, and South America did. The 2020 results are here: https://inaturalist.nz/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2020-umbrella

It will be held this year on 22–25 October. In our CNC wrap-up in Ōtautahi/Christchurch, everyone seemed keen to get involved and do the Great Southern Bioblitz. How about Wellington?

Publicado por jon_sullivan hace casi 3 años

The GSB sounds like a great idea @jon_sullivan. CNC was really enjoyable but I think in terms of introducing new people to the iNat community, spring seems more appropriate. It would also be a nice positive way to bring people together after winter, and inspire more people to actively observe nature over summer.

Publicado por wild_wind hace casi 3 años

Kia ora,

Thank you so all for your amazing work on the City Nature Challenge and once again congratulations to the winners.

We really appreciate your feedback and will send it through to the organisers. The City Nature Challenge wouldn't have been a success if it wasn't for all your efforts.

It was great learning for me being new to iNaturalist and working in this space. Thank you to Tim Park @parkecology , Lara Shepherd, William Brockelsby and everyone else for organising events and guiding me along the way. Looking forward to doing this again next year!

Ngā mihi
Aashif

Publicado por aashif_sacha hace casi 3 años

@wild_wind Great! Yes, a sunny weekend in spring would be ideal for getting new users outside exploring nature.

Publicado por jon_sullivan hace casi 3 años

I certainly support widening the net for Wellington to include Porirua and the Hutt Valley.
Linking in with schools and their phone savvy youngens would be a way to increase iNaturalist exposure, participation and observations.
This may require a bigger ID effort from experts.

Publicado por antkusabs hace casi 3 años

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