יומן של City Nature Challenge 2024: Hartford + New Haven counties

Hello CT iNaturalist friends!

We are excited to be organizing the first City Nature Challenge for Hartford and New Haven Counties, CT!

Over the last weekend in April, we will be trying to collect and accurately identify as many observations as possible within the boundaries of the project. We hope you will join us as we work to document the biodiversity of our communities.

A little bit about the City Nature Challenge (CNC):

The first-ever CNC took place as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA. Citizen scientists used iNaturalist and other tools to document the wildlife in their areas, capturing a snapshot of their local wildlife while engaging their residents in a friendly rivalry.

Organized by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the City Nature Challenge has quickly grown into an annual, international event.

About this project:

This year's CNC will take place from April 26 - 29, 2024. Over these four days, all observations within Hartford and New Haven counties will be automatically added to the project. We encourage you to join the project to receive updates and learn about events near you.

We are a couple of iNaturalist enthusiasts in New Britain - we moved back to Connecticut last year after 12 years in Chicago, where we first took part in the City Nature Challenge. Anyone can bring CNC to their community, so we decided to start one for our region.

We are not affiliated with an organization, so we could really use your help! Here are ways to get involved:

1) Join this project today and put the CNC dates on your calendar: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-hartford-new-haven-counties

2.) Spread the word: let your fellow nature enthusiasts know about the City Nature Challenge, or invite friends and family to join you! Show them how to use the app if needed.

3) Organize an event: plan a bio-blitz at your favorite local park, your school, or another location, and invite others to join you!

4) Help ID observations: we will need to actively identify as many observations as possible by the end of May 5, the last day for City Nature Challenge IDs. If you have knowledge of local organisms, please weigh in on others' observations so we can tally as many species as possible.

Thank you so much for helping us in any way possible - we look forward to documenting our biodiversity with you!

• Sarah (@chiforager) and Chase (@hexagonaria)
  (Scroll down to see one of our neighborhood visitors!)

cc'ing top observers in these counties: @ainemcmanus, @alextrouern-trend, @ali_n, @altspen, @apgarm, @apocynaceaenow, @arachphotobia, @arobey63, @bafinnan, @bobby23, @bridgetdaly, @catverde, @chiforager, @chrisstlawrence, @cink85, @codylimber, @colivia, @condrus, @cwyse, @davidreik, @debcushman, @df84, @dkaff, @dmantack, @drewdlestrudel, @ericpo1, @getawaygardens, @hexagonaria, @jackie24, @jeweledweevil, @jo1010, @jonathan, @judith300, @kellyfuerstenberg, @kimberlymj, @kristofz, @kwg555, @maddog1066, @msr042377, @pgiguere, @pinesnake, @pliantscience, @rayray, @rebeccagelernter, @rileyghostie, @riverlovesinverts, @rrn, @scmayo, @shin_alpha, @silvercats, @stellathejay, @steve432king, @susantheotter, @tatef, @team_bingebirder, @thebugwhisperer, @william_dornbos