Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2020: Surrey BC

A special shout-out goes to the CNC organizers at the California Academy of Sciences @cas_citizen_science for their Herculean effort in moving everything along. Here is the breakdown in a lovely infographic. And while we don't have Peacock Jumping spiders here (though we do have feral Peafowl ;), we still had some pretty cool and unique finds of our own!

International city totals are now posted at https://citynaturechallenge.org/collective-results-2020/. there might still be some update refresh happening but compared to some cities with double+ our population and way more observers you did good Surrey BC!

With deepest appreciation to all of you, and special thanks to our super keen specialists and experts for volunteering so much time helping with the identifications, this event wouldn't have been successful without you!

Pamela Zevit RPBio
Biodiversity Conservation Planner
City of Surrey BC

If you haven't already done so, check out the efforts across Canada. This was Surrey's first year for the City Nature Challenge and we were one of two city's in BC.

Special thanks go to James Page at the Canadian Wildlife Federation (@jpage_cwf) for creating the umbrella project that coordinated Canada's efforts!

Check out the full stats through the City Nature Challenge Canada page:
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/city-nature-challenge-canada-2020-defi-nature-urbaine?tab=about

We are just blown away but the incredible efforts of Surrey's iNaturalist community and supporting identifiers to help verify all 2,591 observations! We have until midnight tonight to add any additional observations taken from April 24-27. Ideally all of our observations should be classified to at least Order or Family. Research grade for all submissions would be sweet but that is a Herculean task, especially with some of the less familiar plants (e.g. mosses).

Key goals for today:
Classify any remaining "unknown" species (a recent search suggests this has been done - AWESOME!)
If you are looking to refine your ID's, or help ID another observer's submission feel free to do so. Some tips to helping are to look at the range maps for a species when you bring it down to the genus (and especially) the species level. That can help you determine if you are on the right track (is it actually found here in southwest BC, or in Metro Vancouver?). Click on the organism's page info (or use the species search bar in the upper right of most pages in iNaturalist) to look at its info (photo gallery, range map, nearby sightings etc.). You can click on other local observations on the range map to see if a similar species from the family or genus you think it is has been identified, and if it was brought to Research Grade.

We will be getting the international results back from the CNC folks in California tomorrow, so stay tuned.

And remember to give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done!

The pressure of the CNC blitz has ended and Surrey remains ranked 4th in Canada for observations at 2109! Now the grunt work begins of going through and uploading and identifying all your wonderful contributions. Some of our top observers and identifiers are working their way through all your submissions. Here are some tips and requests from the CNC project team before the final results are tabulated May 4th:

• If you still have photos you took during April 24-27 but haven't had a chance to upload them yet, now is the time, through May 3.
• It's also time to help with identifications! Remember, you don't have to be an expert to help ID. It is especially important to go through the "unknown"s and get them even to a coarse ID like "plants" or "beetles" or "fungi". This will help those working to ID down to species find those observations. Here is a short video on how to use the Identify Page on iNaturalist: https://vimeo.com/246153496
• As you're going through observations, PLEASE mark anything that looks captive/cultivated as such.
• Surrey will now the final results on May 4th - so stay tuned and we will share those with you through a journal post and likely through social media (follow Surrey on FB, Twitter or Instagram).

We're in the home stretch - almost done! Time to work on IDing and going through our observations this week. Then take some time to recover from the "CNC hangover" - which apparently is a real thing!

As we pass the halfway mark on the last day of Surrey's first ever City Nature Challenge, a big shout-out to all the incredible observers and identifiers helping to make this event shine! What makes this event truly special is that even in the face of so-so weather and a major pandemic, folks have taken to their backyards and local parks to get their observations in.

We can't wait to see what the final numbers are come midnight! And next week we get to see how we rank against other cities across the globe. After the event is over make sure to follow us at surrey-bc_biodiversity to get the latest updates on new projects we will be adding to our profile.

The CNC clock starts at 12:01 am Friday April 24th! The weather this weekend is looking a bit on the wet side, but this is April in coastal BC, and our gardens, parks and natural areas need the moisture. And a little rain has never stopped intrepid iNaturalist observers! It's been a gorgeous spring so far, albeit a surreal one as we grapple with the day-day realities of the pandemic. But that doesn't mean we cannot connect to nature. As the CNC organizers have said "this will probably be the most "city" the City Nature Challenge has ever been!" This will be our very first project through iNaturalist, and given Surrey's diverse landscape of built environments, urban forests and extensive agricultural lands (and everything in-between) we are going to be filling some important gaps through this citizen science initiative.

Remember, your dedicated efforts will help us understand more clearly what plant and animal species are calling Surrey home!

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Hard to believe after nearly a year of planning that Surrey, BC is just two weeks away from our first City Nature Challenge! No one imagined that we would be holding this sort of event during such extreme times, but we know that connecting to nature is a critical form of healing in these stressful times and we hope that our dedicated iNaturalist observers across the City will be able to continue to contribute during these difficult times.

And you never have to wander far in Surrey for nature to show herself. Check out this great iNaturalist project focused on the the critters close to home (or rather inside our homes)!
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/never-home-alone-the-wild-life-of-homes