Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2020: New York City

April is Citizen Science Month and in preparation for a lot of this year's CNC activity to be held online, I'll be hosting three Citizen/Community Science Happy Hours on Zoom in the weeks before the City Nature Challenge. We can all work together for SCIENCE while staying inside. Each week, we'll feature four projects that you can participate in remotely. I plan on always having an iNaturalist-related activity as one of the projects to get people ready for CNC 2020. Here is where you can register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/citizencommunity-science-happy-hour-registration-101578199128

As for CNC, we're holding off on scheduling anything (remote or otherwise) until closer to the days of the Challenge. Most likely we're going to do at least one virtual ID party in the style of one of the above happy hours and there will probably also be an indoor/out-the-window scavenger hunt so we're not encouraging people to leave their homes. More details on those will follow in a separate journal post.

Stay safe!
Kelly

In a few days, I'm going to put together a list of observations you can make for CNC without leaving your home. I thought first I'd see if anyone has any suggestions. Here's my current list of observations you can make out the window or inside the house:

Look for some indoor arthropods (inspired by the Never Home Alone project)

From the window, look/listen for:

• a bird flyover
• an animal noise to record (bird calls, squirrels, raccoons)
• street trees
• animals in street trees
• visitors to nearby fire escapes or roofs
• things growing or living on your window sill

Does anyone have any other ideas?

I know some people have more ability to access the outdoors safely than others, but I really want to focus on something most of us can do safely and so that's why I'm only suggesting things you can observe without leaving your house or apartment. If you do plan on going outside, PLEASE stay aware of your surroundings to maintain proper social distancing.

The City Nature Challenge starts in one week and even though we're all staying home here in NYC, that doesn't mean we can't still participate! Below we have a Scavenger Hunt for all the things you can try to find from home. Let's appreciate the nature we can see and hear from our windows while we stay safely inside and physically distant from other people. Remember that all the cities are working together this year towards one global result and that no single city is going to be declared the winner. There is no need to drive up our observation numbers through the roof!

Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt

Look inside your house for:
-- an insect or spider. Bathrooms are great places to look. Also, try to think about places you might forget about when you clean like under the sink or up on the ceiling. Look in your light fixtures, too. Check out this awesome guide to indoor insects from the Never Home Alone project: Common Insects and Other Arthropods Found in Homes
-- a mold on old bread or fruit (no judgement, it happens to us all)
-- a pest (gnats, scales, etc.) on a house plant (Remember that house plants themselves (and also pets) are generally not appropriate to post on iNaturalist. If you do, you must mark them as captive/cultivated.)

Then, look out your window and find some of these:
-- a bird flyover
-- an animal noise to record (bird calls, squirrels, raccoons)
-- a street tree
-- an animal in a street tree
-- a visitor to a nearby fire escape or roof
-- something growing or living on your window sill
-- an insect that visits your window at night (leave your light on and see what lands on your closed window)
-- a visitor that comes to retrieve a nut or seeds that you leave outside on your window ledge (It should go without saying, but please don't allow wildlife inside)

Thanks to @srall, @javiehweg, and @aberkov for helping to brainstorm this list! If anyone has more suggestions, leave them in the comments here and I'll edit this post! Thanks!

Any observations you make need to happen between April 24-27. If you are concerned about geoprivacy with all of your observations happening where you live, remember that you can change your observation geoprivacy settings from "open" to "obscured" so that the observation appears in a box that covers a large area rather than as one pinpointed to your address.

There is one other way you can participate in the City Nature Challenge from the safety of your home - help us identify observations! Between April 27 and May 4 at 9am, the whole iNaturalist community is working hard to help add and confirm IDs to get the species numbers up for the Challenge. We'll be having a Virtual ID Party via Zoom on April 29 at 5pm. Please sign up at this Eventbrite RSVP link .

We know there are still people going out into our parks and we ask you to please be aware of NYC guidelines banning gatherings of any size and requiring social distancing of at least 6 ft from others. You should also wear some form of face covering if you go out (more info from the Department of Health here). The Department of Health also recommends the following if you are trying to manage your stress by going outside: "If you are not sick, go outside and get exercise, but remember to practice good hygiene and physical distancing. Walking, running, and bicycling are good examples of activities that do not require close contact with others or shared equipment." Source: April 4, 2020 Coronavirus Factsheet. If you do go outside and want to make an iNaturalist observation, please just take the photo and do the rest of the uploading at home. This way you won't be as distracted by entering information into the app and can remain aware of your surroundings and any people that might be approaching. Please stay safe out there.

City Nature Challenge started today! Our first post was of a mosquito from @lizree - thanks for staying up late!

I think it's rained in NYC the first day of CNC every year we've done this, but that's OK because you can observe things at home! Also, now I feel like it's tradition, so I don't mind it :-) I'm copying the last post here so you can see our list of suggestions for at-home observations.

I can see that some of you are observing outside, so I just want to remind everyone again to be cautious and follow recommendations of the NYC Health Department (avoid using public transportation, wear a mask, keep at least 6 ft. of distance between you and others, etc.). Click here for more info .

Copied from the previous post - Below we have a Scavenger Hunt for all the things you can try to find from home. Let's appreciate the nature we can see and hear from our windows while we stay safely inside and physically distant from other people. Remember that all the cities are working together this year towards one global result and that no single city is going to be declared the winner. There is no need to drive up our observation numbers through the roof!

Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt

Look inside your house for:
-- an insect or spider. Bathrooms are great places to look. Also, try to think about places you might forget about when you clean like under the sink or up on the ceiling. Look in your light fixtures, too. Check out this awesome guide to indoor insects from the Never Home Alone project: Common Insects and Other Arthropods Found in Homes
-- a mold on old bread or fruit (no judgement, it happens to us all)
-- a pest (gnats, scales, etc.) on a house plant (Remember that house plants themselves (and also pets) are generally not appropriate to post on iNaturalist. If you do, you must mark them as captive/cultivated.)

Then, look out your window and find some of these:
-- a bird flyover
-- an animal noise to record (bird calls, squirrels, raccoons)
-- a street tree
-- an animal in a street tree
-- a visitor to a nearby fire escape or roof
-- something growing or living on your window sill
-- an insect that visits your window at night (leave your light on and see what lands on your closed window)
-- a visitor that comes to retrieve a nut or seeds that you leave outside on your window ledge (It should go without saying, but please don't allow wildlife inside)

Thanks to @srall, @javiehweg, and @aberkov for helping to brainstorm this list! If anyone has more suggestions, leave them in the comments here and I'll edit this post! Thanks!

Any observations you make need to happen between April 24-27. If you are concerned about geoprivacy with all of your observations happening where you live, remember that you can change your observation geoprivacy settings from "open" to "obscured" so that the observation appears in a box that covers a large area rather than as one pinpointed to your address.

There is one other way you can participate in the City Nature Challenge from the safety of your home - help us identify observations! Between April 27 and May 4 at 9am, the whole iNaturalist community is working hard to help add and confirm IDs to get the species numbers up for the Challenge. We'll be having a Virtual ID Party via Zoom on April 29 at 5pm. Please sign up at this Eventbrite RSVP link .

We know there are still people going out into our parks and we ask you to please be aware of NYC guidelines banning gatherings of any size and requiring social distancing of at least 6 ft from others. You should also wear some form of face covering if you go out (more info from the Department of Health here). The Department of Health also recommends the following if you are trying to manage your stress by going outside: "If you are not sick, go outside and get exercise, but remember to practice good hygiene and physical distancing. Walking, running, and bicycling are good examples of activities that do not require close contact with others or shared equipment." Source: April 4, 2020 Coronavirus Factsheet. If you do go outside and want to make an iNaturalist observation, please just take the photo and do the rest of the uploading at home. This way you won't be as distracted by entering information into the app and can remain aware of your surroundings and any people that might be approaching. Please stay safe out there.

It's Day 2, everyone, and the weather is much nicer. Please be aware of your surroundings if you do choose to go outside and follow NYC guidelines to stay safe (avoid using public transportation, wear a mask, keep at least 6 ft. of distance between you and others, etc.). Click here for more info .

I have two more things you can do from inside your home!

1) Look for observations to split: @srall gave me this idea when I saw her comments on some observations - you can ID the other species in the observations and encourage the users who made them to split them into multiple observations for the different species.

2) April 29 Zoom Virtual ID Party: The other thing you can do is sign up for our Virtual ID Party on April 29. Details at the Eventbrite listing .

I'm copying the Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt post here so you can see our list of suggestions for at-home observations.

Copied from the previous post - Below we have a Scavenger Hunt for all the things you can try to find from home. Let's appreciate the nature we can see and hear from our windows while we stay safely inside and physically distant from other people. Remember that all the cities are working together this year towards one global result and that no single city is going to be declared the winner. There is no need to drive up our observation numbers through the roof!

Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt

Look inside your house for:
-- an insect or spider. Bathrooms are great places to look. Also, try to think about places you might forget about when you clean like under the sink or up on the ceiling. Look in your light fixtures, too. Check out this awesome guide to indoor insects from the Never Home Alone project: Common Insects and Other Arthropods Found in Homes
-- a mold on old bread or fruit (no judgement, it happens to us all)
-- a pest (gnats, scales, etc.) on a house plant (Remember that house plants themselves (and also pets) are generally not appropriate to post on iNaturalist. If you do, you must mark them as captive/cultivated.)

Then, look out your window and find some of these:
-- a bird flyover
-- an animal noise to record (bird calls, squirrels, raccoons)
-- a street tree
-- an animal in a street tree
-- a visitor to a nearby fire escape or roof
-- something growing or living on your window sill
-- an insect that visits your window at night (leave your light on and see what lands on your closed window)
-- a visitor that comes to retrieve a nut or seeds that you leave outside on your window ledge (It should go without saying, but please don't allow wildlife inside)

Thanks to @srall, @javiehweg, and @aberkov for helping to brainstorm this list! If anyone has more suggestions, leave them in the comments here and I'll edit this post! Thanks!

Any observations you make need to happen between April 24-27. If you are concerned about geoprivacy with all of your observations happening where you live, remember that you can change your observation geoprivacy settings from "open" to "obscured" so that the observation appears in a box that covers a large area rather than as one pinpointed to your address.

There is one other way you can participate in the City Nature Challenge from the safety of your home - help us identify observations! Between April 27 and May 4 at 9am, the whole iNaturalist community is working hard to help add and confirm IDs to get the species numbers up for the Challenge. We'll be having a Virtual ID Party via Zoom on April 29 at 5pm. Please sign up at this Eventbrite RSVP link .

We know there are still people going out into our parks and we ask you to please be aware of NYC guidelines banning gatherings of any size and requiring social distancing of at least 6 ft from others. You should also wear some form of face covering if you go out (more info from the Department of Health here). The Department of Health also recommends the following if you are trying to manage your stress by going outside: "If you are not sick, go outside and get exercise, but remember to practice good hygiene and physical distancing. Walking, running, and bicycling are good examples of activities that do not require close contact with others or shared equipment." Source: April 4, 2020 Coronavirus Factsheet. If you do go outside and want to make an iNaturalist observation, please just take the photo and do the rest of the uploading at home. This way you won't be as distracted by entering information into the app and can remain aware of your surroundings and any people that might be approaching. Please stay safe out there.

It's Day 3 of CNC! Have you seen the global totals? Remember that all the cities are working together this year towards one global total. You and over 26,000 people around the world have contributed observations to our celebration of urban nature! See the current results here: https://citynaturechallenge.org/collective-results-2020/

Looks like it's going to be rainy and chilly here in NYC today. I'll copy all of my at-home options for participation below.

Things you can do from inside your home:

1) Look for observations to split: @srall gave me this idea when I saw her comments on some observations - you can ID the other species in the observations and encourage the users who made them to split them into multiple observations for the different species.

2) April 29 Zoom Virtual ID Party: The other thing you can do is sign up for our Virtual ID Party on April 29. Details at the Eventbrite listing .

3) Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt Below we have a Scavenger Hunt for all the things you can try to find from home. Let's appreciate the nature we can see and hear from our windows while we stay safely inside and physically distant from other people. Remember that all the cities are working together this year towards one global result and that no single city is going to be declared the winner. There is no need to drive up our observation numbers through the roof!

Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt

Look inside your house for:
-- an insect or spider. Bathrooms are great places to look. Also, try to think about places you might forget about when you clean like under the sink or up on the ceiling. Look in your light fixtures, too. Check out this awesome guide to indoor insects from the Never Home Alone project: Common Insects and Other Arthropods Found in Homes
-- a mold on old bread or fruit (no judgement, it happens to us all)
-- a pest (gnats, scales, etc.) on a house plant (Remember that house plants themselves (and also pets) are generally not appropriate to post on iNaturalist. If you do, you must mark them as captive/cultivated.)

Then, look out your window and find some of these:
-- a bird flyover
-- an animal noise to record (bird calls, squirrels, raccoons)
-- a street tree
-- an animal in a street tree
-- a visitor to a nearby fire escape or roof
-- something growing or living on your window sill
-- an insect that visits your window at night (leave your light on and see what lands on your closed window)
-- a visitor that comes to retrieve a nut or seeds that you leave outside on your window ledge (It should go without saying, but please don't allow wildlife inside)

Any observations you make need to happen between April 24-27. If you are concerned about geoprivacy with all of your observations happening where you live, remember that you can change your observation geoprivacy settings from "open" to "obscured" so that the observation appears in a box that covers a large area rather than as one pinpointed to your address.

There is one other way you can participate in the City Nature Challenge from the safety of your home - help us identify observations! Between April 27 and May 4 at 9am, the whole iNaturalist community is working hard to help add and confirm IDs to get the species numbers up for the Challenge. We'll be having a Virtual ID Party via Zoom on April 29 at 5pm. Please sign up at this Eventbrite RSVP link .

We know there are still people going out into our parks and we ask you to please be aware of NYC guidelines banning gatherings of any size and requiring social distancing of at least 6 ft from others. You should also wear some form of face covering if you go out (more info from the Department of Health here). The Department of Health also recommends the following if you are trying to manage your stress by going outside: "If you are not sick, go outside and get exercise, but remember to practice good hygiene and physical distancing. Walking, running, and bicycling are good examples of activities that do not require close contact with others or shared equipment." Source: April 4, 2020 Coronavirus Factsheet. If you do go outside and want to make an iNaturalist observation, please just take the photo and do the rest of the uploading at home. This way you won't be as distracted by entering information into the app and can remain aware of your surroundings and any people that might be approaching. Please stay safe out there.

Wow! Over half a million CNC observations have been made across the globe! Today is the last day to make observations for NYC (but remember you have until May 4 9am to upload them). I've copied all my usual warnings below. Don't forget to join us for our Virtual ID Party on Wednesday! RSVP at the Eventbrite listing .

I trust that those of you going out are doing so safely, but it makes me feel better to remind everyone to please be aware of NYC guidelines banning gatherings of any size and requiring social distancing of at least 6 ft from others. You should also wear some form of face covering if you go out (more info from the Department of Health here). The Department of Health also recommends the following if you are trying to manage your stress by going outside: "If you are not sick, go outside and get exercise, but remember to practice good hygiene and physical distancing. Walking, running, and bicycling are good examples of activities that do not require close contact with others or shared equipment." Source: April 4, 2020 Coronavirus Factsheet. If you do go outside and want to make an iNaturalist observation, please just take the photo and do the rest of the uploading at home. This way you won't be as distracted by entering information into the app and can remain aware of your surroundings and any people that might be approaching. Please stay safe out there.

We didn't think it was going to happen this year, but despite the pandemic, we actually reached peak activity on iNaturalist this weekend! Check it out here: https://www.inaturalist.org/stats/observation_weeks

This amazing accomplishment means that there is TONS of identifying that has to be done! Join us Wednesday, April 29 at 5pm EDT for Virtual ID Party! No taxonomic experience required. If you can tell a plant from an animal, you can contribute. RSVP at this Eventbrite listing .

Special thanks to our current Top Ten Identifiers for this project who have already given us a lot of IDs! @sadawolk, @allisonbf, @wayne_fidler, @matthew_wills, @elevine, @elharo, @susanhewitt, @astrobirder, @srall, @conboy