Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2021: Western NC

Hello, and thank you for participating in the 2021 City Nature Challenge: Western NC!

We surpassed all three benchmarks over our 2020 project, which is fantastic! More people posted more observations of more species this year than any year Western NC has participated- and that's all due to your efforts. Thank you! Internationally we placed 50th for overall observations and 25 for species in the world! Way to go!

In addition, we had several individuals post over 100 observations. A big thanks to those in Club 100! Please send me a private message or email me at jmarchal@ncarboretum.org with your mailing address so we can send a North Carolina BioBlitz patch your way.

I'm also excited to announce the winners of our regional competition. This year's Western NC winners are:

Top Observations:
1st: woodbridge
2nd: jackollis
3rd: caseygirard

Top Species:
1st: lenrely
2nd: kylezjones13
3rd: naturalistjennie

Congratulations to these winners! Also kudos to catattack, our winner of the internal NC Arboretum Staff competition!

Winners: Please let me know if you'd be interested in dropping by the NC Arboretum to pick up your prize package. Alternatively we can mail these to you. Please email me at jmarchal@ncarboretum.org to let me know your preference.

Thanks again! I look forward to another City Nature Challenge in 2022!

Jonathan
on iNaturalist: jmarchal

Congrats to all on a successful Team WNC BioBlitz!

Now it's time to grab those SD cards, scour your phone's picture gallery and ensure you've posted all the organisms you observed between April 30 to May 3 (if you haven't already!). Please also help fellow members of this project by viewing observations taken by others and help with the identification. We currently have more species contributed this year than in 2020, so let's see if we can make that number as high as we can with correct identifications (and, if you see an observation with a single correct identification, go ahead and agree with it so it can reach Research Grade status).

As for prizes, the leaderboard is showing some high achievers! When the results are final (all observations uploaded, all identifications added/refined/corrected) on May 10 I'll announce our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.

And, our number of observers with 100 or more observations has also grown! Big thanks to: jackollis, woodbridge, lenrely, kylezjones13, naturalistjennie and caseygirard, and our new member of the 100-club: catattack! Many of you are within reach of that 100 observations mark, so consider looking over any observations that you did not post if you are close to receive that North Carolina BioBlitz patch.

Thanks again, and I hope to see you outside!

Jonathan
On iNaturlaist: Marchal

It looks like many of us took advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend!

There are SO many tremendous observations coming form the challenge this year, and I appreciate everyone's efforts! Let's finish strong with some observations today- even if you are only able to make a few on what is this weekday-workday for many of us.

A few observers in particular have done an amazing job with their individual efforts! A big shout out to jackollis, woodbridge, lenrely, kylezjones13, naturalistjennie and caseygirard for making and submitting over 100 observations to date. As a special thank you, anyone who puts up 100 or more observations during the City Nature Challenge will receive a free North Carolina BioBlitz patch. I'll reach out to each of your on May 10, after the submission deadline, to confirm your mailing address.

Keep up the great work, Team WNC!

Jonathan
On iNaturalist: jmarchal

Hello, and thank you for joining the 2021 City Nature Challenge: Western NC Project!

There are a lot of great online and in person programs happening as a part of the CNC. Plus ways to earn patches and naturalist prize packages. Of course, our real purpose is to document as much biodiversity as possible as a region, and I thank you all for your efforts!

For more information on the City Nature Challenge and special opportunities available to participants visit: https://www.ncarboretum.org/event/2021-city-nature-challenge/

I'll be teaching a free online course this Thursday (see details via link above) on using iNaturalist and how to participate in the City Nature Challenge. If you are new to this effort you may find this class useful, and if you are a veteran iNaturalist user consider inviting someone who you think might enjoy the CNC.

Thanks again!

Jonathan Marchal

On iNaturalist: jmarchal

And- thank you for joining Team WNC!

This year we're competing with 4 other regions in North Carolina for bragging rights on who can find the most biodiversity, contribute the most observations, and recruit the most observers. While friendly competition is great, the real goal here is to work collectively to document the most observations of organisms across our mountains, our state, and the world. Thank you for participating in this worthy effort.

Your help in documenting biodiversity is appreciated. We are offering a chance to earn a NC BioBlitz badge by attending a free online course I'll be presenting via The North Carolina Arboretum. Anyone who attends the class, adds 40 observations during the City Nature Challenge anywhere in N.C., and adds an identification to 10 other observations contributed to the CNC will receive this patch. Follow this link to register.: https://4020a.blackbaudhosting.com/4020a/AE21-Intro-to-City-Nature-Challenge--iNaturalist

To add to the fun, we'll be giving a Naturalist Prize Package to the top three observers of this project in the categories of Most Observations and Most Species. I'll reach out to the winners on May 10.

In an effort to document as much species richness as possible, it will be helpful if a variety of elevations, habitats and geography of our region is represented. I invite you to contribute to this Google Spreadsheet that I have created to share information about where members of this project are making observations. Participation is entirely voluntary, but I welcome your contributions! To access this document follow this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VY1soFSmMzqjL5g_x-YriiSrkMwVs0RmxwHhPrI9YKw/edit?usp=sharing

Have fun, stay safe, and thanks for contributing to our understanding of the biodiversity of our mountains!

Jonathan Marchal
on iNaturalist: jmarchal