Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2023: South Florida (#CNCSOFLO)

Hello CNCSOFLO Participants!

On behalf of all of the organizers involved in the City Nature Challenge, including Frost Science, University of Florida IFAS, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, West Palm Beach, Florida International University, Miami Eco Adventures, Citizens for a Better South Florida, Outdoor Connections, the Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program, Mountain to Sea Education, Miami-Dade County and others, a big thank you goes to all of the observers, identifiers and everyone that put events together to get people outside, helping to showcase South Florida's amazing biodiversity.

Our numbers this year were off the charts, as we:
-doubled our observations (22k compared to 11k last year)
-jumped to over 3k species compared to 2.2k last year
-added 500 observers (almost 1.1k compared to 622 last year)

I'm not sure whose idea it was to add West Palm Beach to our City Nature Challenge but it made an enormous difference! Many users observed species that we simply don't get in Broward, Miami-Dade or Monroe and that is a big reason that our species numbers shot up so much. Our area was already quite large (Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties) and with the addition of Palm Beach, it made it a lot easier to climb the ranks. Thankfully we had huge participation in Palm Beach to fully take advantage of so much new ground to cover! A big shout out also goes to many schools and young people who participated this year, as that really shot our observers count past the 1,000 mark! Many dedicated teachers and professors made a big difference in showing our students how to use iNaturalist :-)

Below is a breakdown of our rankings as of today, May 17th. Bear in mind some of our numbers have changed since the official results were released on May 8th.

2023 City Nature Challenge- SOFLO results ranked against 482 other cities/areas (up from 445 cities last year)
-17th by observation count (up 16 places from 33rd last year)
-7th by species count (up by 14 places from 23rd last year)
-11th by observer count (up by 12 places from 23rd to last year)
P.S. we are really more like in 6th place by species count because 1st place went to the "Global Project" which literally includes every single iNaturalist observation posted during CNC weekend that wasn't in an area covered by one of the participating areas! There's no way a single participating area could beat the diversity of the rest of the world!

You can look through the City Nature Challenge leaderboards, which compare all the cities, here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023

Check out our stats from this year compared to 2022 and 2021 below:
CNCSOFLO 2023 vs 2022 vs 2021

These numbers will change as more observations are added (better late than never!) More identifications will also continue to come in as the iNaturalist community looks through observations that haven't been identified yet (in the Needs ID stage- we still have almost 7,000 observations in this stage).

Last year I included around 40 observations to highlight but I didn't dive as deeply into the observations as I did last year and don't want to leave out any cool observations I missed. So... if you click on the next link below, you can scroll past the stats and see some of the observations that got the most faves, comments and identifications. There are some really cool ones in there so make sure to give it a look! It would also be great if you mention some of your own favorite observations in the comments below, whether you posted them yourself or noticed someone else's observation. Bare in mind this can only be done on the iNaturalist website/not through the app!
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023-south-florida-cncsoflo?tab=stats

If you missed the highlights from last year, or simply want to revisit them, you can see the journal post I wrote up here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2022-south-florida-cncsoflo/journal/65814-2022-cncsoflo-results

Thanks again for participating this year! Also, a big thank you to our top identifiers, @b_gonzalez added over FIVE THOUSAND identifications and @jimw3 added over 3.5k identifications. @oliver_g_jones and I each added over 2k identifications too. @brittanymmason almost hit the 1k mark and @stevewoodmansee lent his botanical knowledge to also really help boost our species count. @lgarriga was also in our top 8 identifiers and @coolcrittersyt shared his insect/arthropod ID skills, too! In the observation department, shoutout to @fherrerav and @coreytcallaghan for breaking the 500 observation count with Jim Wetterer and I and also @lgarriga @flortnash @alyssacritters and @coolcrittersyt for rounding out the top 8.

Some final notes:
-Don't forget to follow CNCSOFLO's official Instagram page @cncsoflo and you can also find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CNCsoflo
-Make sure to join next year's project so you can get updates when we start planning: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-south-florida-cncsoflo
-Check out the official City Nature Challenge's journal post for CNC 2023 with a neat infographic:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023/journal/79673-city-nature-challenge-2023-results
-If you'd like to view this journal post in an internet browser or what to share it with anyone, here's the link:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2022-south-florida-cncsoflo/journal/65814-2022-cncsoflo-results

One more thing... remember iNaturalist is up and running all year! One of the best ways to train your eyes to find biodiversity is to keep on the lookout all the time. You never know what you will learn or find!

Thanks again,
Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO team

Final CNCSOFLO ID Party/Wrap Party will be at Simpson Memorial Garden Center at 55 SW 17th Road, Miami, FL. It will be from 12:00 PM to 3:30 PM, but feel free to arrive at 10:30 AM if you want a complimentary park tour. Food will be provided, as will ID guides, compliments of Citizens For A Better South Florida, but remember to bring your own laptop.

A big thank you to City of Miami Parks and Recreation Natural Areas Division for providing the venue.

Hello CNCSOFLO participants,

We have climbed and dropped a few places on some of the categories as other cities around the world have continued adding observations taken during the City Nature Challenge period of last Friday to Monday. As it stands, we are in 17th place for observation count, 8th place for species count, and 11th place for the amount of observers. These are all big jumps compared to last year and we definitely have to thank Palm Beach County for their enormous effort in documenting biodiversity that we don't have in our other participating counties.

Keep in mind we can still add observations so if you know anyone who snapped some nature pictures between last Friday, April 28th and Monday, May 1st, they can upload the pictures to iNaturalist and we can try to climb a few more places in each of the categories! I am still not done posting observations myself :-D

Thanks to all of you for participating!! I will be posting a couple more journal entries once the City Nature Challenge posts results on Monday and then to highlight some of our special observations and finds. You can see what our results from last year look like here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2022-south-florida-cncsoflo/journal/65814-2022-cncsoflo-results

If you are interested in participating in more bioblitzes like the City Nature Challenge, keep an eye out for future journal posts... rumor has it the Environmentally Endangered Lands program (EEL) is planning something in autumn and we will also have our second Home River Bioblitz on the Miami River coming up, too.

Stay tuned,
Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO team

We have been keeping the pace up all the way through to our last day of the City Nature Challenge! Remember we have until the end of the day to continue snapping photos and recording audio of the amazing biodiversity of South Florida. We have had some phenomenal weather today, which was especially nice after the rain and wind yesterday.

At the moment our participant count is at 931 observers... so, so, so close to hitting 1,000! If you know any nature lovers, take a minute to get them on iNaturalist and help them post an observation or two to take us over that threshold! If you know of any school kids that need community service hours, remember the Frost Science Museum has an initiative for recognizing observations posted as community service... after all, when we post to iNaturalist we are helping our community to learn about the biodiversity in the area and you never know who you will inspire to get outside and appreciate nature. Here is a link to Frost Science's page about Citizen Science community service hours:
https://www.frostscience.org/museum-volunteers-for-the-environment/get-involved/service-hours-at-home/

As the day draws to a close, don't forget to check a nearby weedy patch to bump our observation count, too. I hit a vacant lot on my way home from work and documented lots of neat butterflies like dainty sulphur, barred yellow, Horace's duskywings and baracoa skipper. It's amazing how a little patch of lawn weeds will provide habitat for so many beautiful butterflies. Here are some of the butterflies we've posted during the City Nature Challenge so far:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=city-nature-challenge-2023-south-florida-cncsoflo&quality_grade=research&taxon_id=47224
That's 44 species in just 4 days!

Although the observation period closes at 11:59PM tonight, we have until Sunday, May 7th to post our photos/audio taken from Friday to Monday and also help identify the enormous amount of observations we have posted. If you have any questions about how identifying works, feel free to message me.

-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO team

Hi CNCSOFLO participants!

Hope you've had a great time using iNaturalist to log South Florida's biodiversity so fa.! We are less than halfway through the four-day City Nature Challenge and we are already at over 7,500 observations! Last year we totaled 11,500, so we are well on track to beat all of our numbers. Remember to keep an eye out for biodiversity wherever you are for these next few days. Checking porch lights at night can produce some pretty cool insect sightings and if you head to the beach, shells count, too! Don't get even get me started on lawn weeds... they are everywhere and can have any number of critters visiting the flowers for nectar and pollen :-)

If you need some tips on where to find biodiversity and how to document what you find, here is a link to some best practices: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-uzRKVVu4qfxU2j3WM9y_fibd8B756Pb/view

If you are looking for a fun event to join, check out the CNCSOFLO calendar here: https://www.cncsoflo.com/events-2

Don't forget to spread the word to any other nature lovers you know :-D

P.S. we are currently in EIGHTH place out of over 400 cities around the world for observation count!! Keep up the great work!!

-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO team

Hi everyone!

We are a little under three weeks away from the beginning of the 2023 City Nature Challenge! With the CNC right around the corner, we wanted to make sure everyone is aware of a few resources that may be particularly helpful. I will also be providing an online training Wednesday, April 13th from 3:30PM-4:30PM via Zoom. You can join the zoom on Wednesday here: https://ufl.zoom.us/my/coreytcallaghan and the CNCsoflo website calendar has more info: https://www.cncsoflo.com/events-2

CNCSOFLO website:
https://www.cncsoflo.com/
Check the site out for events during the CNC weekend.
If you are planning on hosting an event, make sure to register your event so we can include it on the site!

@cncsoflo Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/cncsoflo/?hl=en
Follow our Instagram for interactive posts including quizzes and polls about South Florida biodiversity.

Looking for best practices and other info about iNaturalist? The links below will come in handy. Feel free to share with anyone who is new to iNaturalist or wants to learn more about how to navigate the website & database.
Why iNaturalist?- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s9JPUY6oZZq_iWyH-xE6ZMyTaxazjPqm/view?usp=share_link
Best practices & things to avoid- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-uzRKVVu4qfxU2j3WM9y_fibd8B756Pb/view?usp=share_link
How to upload and use iNaturalist- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R25YIzmZvO0V48Sa7_ycgcE4b03Lj8K3/view?usp=share_link
Research Grade, Needs ID, Casual Grade explained-https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OmLzvL_l-PjDXbfDgLjXkF0x_qgO2U19/view?usp=sharing
iNat extras (cool features newer users may not be familiar with)- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RcOcIleKdAuwYnePPF4FmsF-cB0pTSyF/view?usp=sharing

South Florida Lawn Weeds Guide:
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/9022
Did you know lawn weeds are one of the easiest examples of biodiversity to observe just about anywhere you go? This guide includes the most common lawn weeds found in South Florida, loosely in order from most common & widely distributed to least common. While photographing lawn weeds, keep an eye out for pollinators and other little critters that use them as habitat!

Community service
Do you know any students in need of community service hours? You can contact me at joemdo.inaturalist@gmail.com with the student's username and I will provide community service hours equal to 1 hour for every 10 observations posted during the City Nature Challenge. The observations need to be either Needs ID or Research Grade to count. For more info, check out the following document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wnT6_MFbu6zIdjT9fknLXnRGsW_EOGZi/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for reading and happy iNatting!
-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO Team