יומן של City Nature Challenge 2019: San Francisco Bay Area

THANK YOU SF Bay Area!!! We had yet another stellar year of the City Nature Challenge. We graciously allowed some other cities top spots for observations and species, but we held on to our #1 ranking for the most observers, and were top for identifiers! Clearly, it's because we have the most engaged and nature-loving folks in the Bay Area.

All together around the world in the four days of the City Nature Challenge, there were 963,773 observations made, 31,000+ species documented (including 1100+ rare/endangered/threatened species), and 35,126 people made and shared observations of their local nature.

Here's how SF did overall - in the top 5 for everything!:
Observations
1 Cape Town: 53763
2 La Paz: 46931
3 San Diego: 38241
4 San Francisco: 38028
5 Tena: 37965

Species
1 Cape Town: 4588
2 Hong Kong SAR: 3596
3 Houston: 3367
4 Los Angeles: 3249
5 San Francisco: 3183

Observers
1 San Francisco: 1947
2 Los Angeles: 1555
3 La Paz: 1500
4 Quito: 1372
5 Washington D.C.: 1258

Identifiers
1 San Francisco: 813
2 Dallas - Fort Worth: 781
3 Los Angeles: 761
4 San Diego: 741
5 Washington D.C.: 700

Big thanks to our top observers @merav, @gyrrlfalcon, @damontighe, @marymchurchill, @sea-kangaroo, and @catchang,
our top species-finders @catchang, @damontighe, @kevinhintsa, @barry_thomson, @merav, and @sea-kangaroo,
and our top hard-working identifiers @graysquirrel, @hfb, @jlmartin, @boschniakia, @catchang, and @truthseqr!

Some amazing and fun local finds include:
California freshwater shrimp found by @mmwd . This endangered shrimp is only found in certain streams in Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties.
Pacific hagfish from @tiawatts . This deep-sea dweller washed up in Bodega Bay and is an opportunivore—eating whatever it can. The hagfish can survive over 5,000 feet deep and absorbs nutrients through its skin as it devours the innards of dead fish.
A super-cool harvestman spotted by @kueda. This harvestman revealed a stunning geometric pattern from its perch in the South Bay.
Western black-headed snake found by @shannonbuttimer. This California native spends much of its life underground. This is only the third observation of this snake in the Bay Area since it’s the northern end of this species’ range.
Venezillo microphthalmus, a terrestrial isopod photographed by @gyrrlfalcon with thanks to @loarie for realizing what it was! Quoted from his comment: "See Garthwaite and Lawson 1992: 'This species was first described on the basis of specimens collected in the San Francisco Bay Area at Saratoga, Santa Clara County. Although it was later collected at several localities in Tulare and Calaveras counties in California, it has never again been collected in the Bay Area, and the only recent collections made of this species have been from the Channel Islands of southern California.'"

And enjoy this view of other interesting results from the City Nature Challenge:

Thanks for an incredible four days of observing our local nature! A HUGE thank you to all the Bay Area organizations that held events, all of you who got out there and made observations, and everyone who has helped go through and identify those observations already! Including the cities that didn't use iNaturalist, all together we've uploaded over 800,000 observations of more than 27,000 species! Plus 32,000+ people participated, which is absolutely amazing.

So what's next? Well, we're done taking pictures, but there are still quite a few things that can be done before the challenge is officially over:

Uploading: If you have a backlog of photos that they haven't uploaded yet, you can keep uploading their observations through Sunday, May 5. Of course, these observations must have been taken during the observing window of April 26 - 29 and made within the nine Bay Area counties to count - but as long as they meet those two requirements, they will be added to our project.

Identifying: The main reason we have a week between the ending of making observations and announcing the results is so that people have time to identify observations! You can learn more about best practices of making observations here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started#identify

If you want some help learning how to ID on iNaturalist (anyone can be an identifier, just like anyone can be an observer!), or you just want to hang out with a bunch of other people also making IDs, come to our ID Party tomorrow night at Standard Deviant!

If you're not going to have a chance to join us for the ID party, you can still help with IDs! You can see which SF Bay Area City Nature Challenge observations still need IDs here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=city-nature-challenge-2019-san-francisco-bay-area

Once you're on the identify page, you can filter for particular taxa (using the "species" box or using the taxon buttons in the filters) if you'd like (e.g., birds, plants, fungus, lizards). You can also click the "unknown" button in the filters: to see all the observations that were uploaded with no ID at all. For these unknowns, if you don't know the species it's still useful to add a coarse ID like "plants" or "grasses" or "reptiles" so that the people who know these taxa can find these observations more easily to identify them.

A big part of identifying is also helping us mark observations of organisms that are clearly captive or cultivated as such. If you see a human-planted plant or an animal that's in a zoo or aquarium or is a pet, PLEASE mark these observations Captive / Cultivated (if you're in the identify page):

or click the thumbs down for "Organism is wild" in the Data Quality Assessment section if you're on the observation page:

Also: if you see an observation where you think the photograph is inappropriate or not taken by the observer (e.g., they found the photo somewhere on the internet), please read what to do here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#inappropriate

Results: Whatever our numbers are as of 9am on Monday, May 6 will be our results! We'll post here in the news once we have results compiled and ready to present - this will most likely be around 3pm Pacific Time on Monday May 6.

Thanks, and happy uploading and identifying!

Hello San Francisco Bay Area nature enthusiasts! We hope you're as excited as we are about the City Nature Challenge, starting Friday, April 26! There are over 150 cities around the world taking part this year, all of us working together to document nature in metro areas globally.

Starting at 12:01 am on the 26th and going until 11:59pm on April 29th, any observation made in the San Francisco Bay Area (all 9 counties that touch the Bay, and in the Bay itself! - see the map on the front of this project page) will be automatically added to our SF Bay Area City Nature Challenge project. Feel free to get out there and make observations on your own, or join in one of the many events being held by organizations all around the Bay Area during the 4 days of the challenge to meet other naturalists in our area.

From April 30 - May 5, we have time to get all our observations uploaded and work on getting as many identified as we can (come to our ID party on May 1!). Results will be announced on Monday, May 6, but you can check out all the observations coming in from around the world from the cities using iNaturalist on our City Nature Challenge umbrella project, and you can see the full leaderboard (includes the cities using a platform other than iNaturalist) on the City Nature Challenge website.

We can't wait to see what we all find - here in the Bay Area, and around the world!

Come to an event for the City Nature Challenge in the San Francisco Bay Area! Participating in an event will give you the chance to meet other people in the Bay Area who are interested in nature. Join a bioblitz to learn how to use iNaturalist and document the species all around us in the Bay Area. Come to an identification party to help ID the observations made throughout the Bay Area during the City Nature Challenge - all experience levels welcome! A HUGE thank you to the many partner organizations in the Bay Area who are hosting these events.

Be sure to check back - more events are being added!

Click the link for an event to learn more (times, where to meet, what to bring) and to register.

Friday, April 26
Pillar Point Tidepools Bioblitz, Half Moon Bay
Strawberry Creek / UC Berkeley Bioblitz, Berkeley
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park Bioblitz, Kenwood
Stulsaft Park Hike, Redwood City
Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival, North Bay (paid registration required for the various events)
Big Walk: Glen Canyon - Twin Peaks - Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: El Polin Springs, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Eastern Tributary, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Thompson Reach, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Crissy Field, San Francisco
City Nature Challenge Kick-off Concert: Element Trio, San Francisco

Saturday, April 27
Huddart Park Bioblitz, Woodside
Foothills Park Bioblitz, Palo Alto
Lake Merritt Bioblitz, Oakland
Albany Bulb Bioblitz, Albany
Albany Hill and Cerrito Creek Bioblitz, Albany
Stinson Beach Bioblitz, Stinson Beach
Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival, North Bay (paid registration required for the various events)
Ulistac Natural Area Bioblitz, Santa Clara
Mount Diablo State Park Bioblitz, Contra Costa County
Trione-Annadel State Park Bioblitz, Santa Rosa
Trione-Annadel State Park Mountain Biking Bioblitz, Santa Rosa
Presidio Bioblitz: Presidio Nursery to Lower Dragonfly Creek, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Coastal Bluffs, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: El Polin Springs, San Francisco
Mountain Lake Walk/Talk, San Francisco

Sunday, April 28
Crown Memorial State Beach Bioblitz, Alameda
Sobrante Ridge Regional Park Bioblitz, El Sobrante
Vollmer Peak @ Tilden Regional Park Bioblitz, Berkeley
Sonoma Valley Regional Park Bioblitz, Sonoma
Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve Bioblitz, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: North Pershing Dunes, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Batteries to Bluffs, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Inspiration Point, San Francisco
Presidio Picnic Hikes, San Francisco
Hellyer Park Bioblitz, San Jose
Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival, North Bay (paid registration required for the various events)

Monday, April 29
Presidio Bioblitz: World War II Memorial, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: YMCA Reach, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Rob Hill, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Lobos Creek Valley, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Presidio Hills and Lobos Creek, San Francisco
Presidio Bioblitz: Dragonfly Creek, San Francisco

Wednesday, May 1
ID Party at Standard Deviant, San Francisco

Hi everyone!

We're coming up on that time of year again, everyone's favorite international urban biodiversity competition, the City Nature Challenge!

This year the challenge runs April 26-29, starting at midnight on the 26th and ending at 11:59:59 on the 29th. All observations must be made in that window - any observations made in the 9 Bay Area counties will count and will automatically be added to this project. We then have a week to get everything uploaded and to identify as many observations as possible - whatever our numbers say on May 6 at 9:00am will be our final results!

Last year we swept the CNC by taking first in observations, species, and observers. Can we hold onto our title this year? The competition is fierce - last year 68 cities around the world participated, this year we have over 150 cities taking on the challenge!

We're working with an amazing group of Bay Area organizations to put together a suite of events that people can join over the four days of the challenge, plus an ID party or two before May 6. If you're interested in hosting an event, please send me (@kestrel) a message here on iNat! We'll post the list events on this page once it's finalized.

We'll post more updates over the next couple months - join this project to get notified when we add a new post!

And remember: no matter what, we always want to beat LA!

-Alison (@kestrel) & Rebecca (@rebeccafay)