City Nature Challenge (24-27 april 2020)

Monday, 20 April 2020

Observe nature from one ocean to the other

The City Nature Challenge is an international initiative celebrating worldwide biodiversity. Cities in several countries have organize friendly challenges in order to see which community will harvest most observations of nature, find the most species or have the most participants to the City Nature Challenge.
With the help of the iNaturalist Canada app (free), Canadians from all over the country will have the opportunity to be involved in the challenge by uploading observations of nature in their own neighbourhood, thereby contributing to the Canadian total. Join thousands of participants around the world and help Canada to blaze a trail!

This year, in order to enhance the collaborative side of the City Nature Challenge and the healing power of nature, the 2020 challenge will not be a competition. We are encouraging participants to record their observations in their garden and neighbourhood during the period of the challenge (24-27 April).

In Canada, 8 cities have created projects, but you can participate from everywhere in the country, keeping in mind to respect the distanciation rules in your province.
Each city has a dedicated event page on iNaturalist (ex. for Montréal)

What should I do to participate?
Anytime: download the iNaturalist app and get familiar with adding observations (quick tip; ensure the location permissions for your camera are ON to enable easy/automatic georeferencing of your record)

April 24 – 27: record observations in your garden, alley or nearby park and upload to iNaturalist (avoid recording cultivated or captive organisms OR be sure to mark them as such in the observation)

April 28 – May 3: add identifications to the project observations
(“Research Grade” observations include a photo and more than one (correlating) taxonomic identification)

Enjoy the time outside!!