Hello Everyone!
I wanted to make a brief announcement about the upcoming BiodiverCity Challenge happening the Calgary Metropolitan Region June 10-13! The event is organized by the ABMI NatureLynx app and began in 2020 in the Edmonton area. Last year they allowed users who preferred the use of iNaturalist to submit their observations and this year have decided to do a trial run in the Calgary area.

To participate, all you need to is head out June 10-13 and make as many observations as you can! You can post your observations to NatureLynx or to iNaturalist. Any observations made in Calgary, Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, or Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park will automatically be included in the project. If you'd like to join or follow along with some of the observations please visit the project page: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/biodivercity-2021-calgary-metropolitan-region

As we all know, the annual City Nature Challenge event is early to showcase Calgary's biodiversity. This event will be interesting to compare the species and phenological stages that we find only 40 days later in the year. Please invite your friends, families, colleagues to join in!

I am personally challenging you to accomplish the following " BiodiverCity Scavenger hunt" at your favorite natural area or throughout the city June 10-13!

Rules:
1) No limit to the number of observations that can be made.
2) Observations must be made within Calgary Metro Region Boundaries June 10-13.
3) Participants must "Join" the BiodiverCity Calgary Project: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/biodivercity-2021-calgary-metropolitan-region
4) Deadline to submit observations to iNaturalist is June 19!

Good Luck and I look forward to seeing what you find!

101 Observation Challenge
20 Bird Species
20 Flowering Plant Species (in bloom)
25 Total Invertebrate observations
5 Bee species
10 Butterflies or moths (any life stage)
5 mammal species
15 Lichen/Moss Observations
1 Amphibian/Reptile observation

Prize Contact CityNatureYYC@gmail.com Please ensure to include your username in the email!

The #CityNatureChallenge Results are IN!!!! #Calgary had an amazing performance this year! We are so proud of the naturalist and citizen science community for getting outside and showing the world the incredible biodiversity we have in #yyc!

Around the world, 1.27 million observations were made April 30-May 3! 52,000+ people shared their observations to iNaturalist and recorded over 45,000 species! 2354 of those species are considered threatened or endangered and they were all found within cities!

In Calgary, there were 267 people who shared their observations to iNaturalist April 30-May 10. Together we recorded over 660 species (many still yet to be identified to a species level). With 6,689 observations uploaded to date, Calgary holds the Canadian record for the most CNC observations ever made during the event! It was not only our best year ever for participation, species, and observations but there was tremendous growth in the distribution of observations made across the city. Primarily in the Southeast where few observations were made in 2019 and 2020. (Perhaps due to the amazing birds that were visiting Ralph Klein Park and other wetlands). View a few highlights here: https://www.instagram.com/p/COtOwAYB8Tc/

Congratulations to everyone in the Edmonton, Lethbridge, Camrose, and Red Deer areas on your first year participating in CNC! Across Alberta, people contributed over 10,000 observations (925 species by 468 observers). Our provincial iNaturalist community continues to grow and it is through the importance of these big events like CNC that introduce and inspire more people to participate that have made it such a powerful resource for community and research!

Thank you to everyone that participated and it's never too late to upload your amazing finds to iNaturalist. The May Flower Count, May Species Count, and BiodiverCity Challenge are all happening in May through June so there's never been a better time to start!

Learn More about the BiodiverCity Challenge Happening June 10-13
Edmonton BiodiverCity Project: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/metro-edmonton-biodivercity-challenge-2021
Calgary BiodiverCity Project: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/biodivercity-2021-calgary-metropolitan-region

City Nature Challenge Calgary would not be possible without the support of our local nature, education, and conservation groups. These stewards help to protect our natural areas while fostering people's appreciation for the natural world. It's never too late to get involved and it's a simple as becoming a member, making a donation, or simply communicating with them to learn about volunteer opportunities. ♥️🙏♥️ Nature Calgary, Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society, Green Calgary, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Nature Alberta, Glenbow Ranch Preservation Society, Friends of Fish Creek, CPAWS Southern Alberta, NatureLynx, Canadian Wildlife Federation ♥️🙏♥️

We also can't thank the @citynaturechallenge folks enough for organizing the global event! They had their hands full with 419 cities and hundreds of organizers across the globe. Thank you @nhmla and @calacademy for making this event a reality! ♥️ To view the CNC Collective Results Visit: https://citynaturechallenge.org/collective-results-2021/

Thank you to everyone and can't wait for our next chance to blitz together in person!

CityNatureYYC #CitizenBlitz

Hi Everyone!
We have just over 16 days to go until the beginning of the 2021 City Nature Challenge! I hope that this will be our biggest and best year yet (now that we have an extra few days of Spring to play with). If you haven't done so already, please join the Project: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/city-nature-challenge-2021-calgary-metropolitan-region.

It's definitely unfortunate COVID-19 is still a major concern and we ask that everyone be safe and have fun during the event. For this reason, we are not able to organize any in-person events this year but will follow a similar course to that of CNC YYC 2020 where we explored the city independently.

Here's a few tips!

April 30- May 3: GET OUTSIDE!!!

Follow all health restrictions and guidelines

Explore your yards, neighborhoods, and local parks - ANYWHERE in Calgary, Cochrane, Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, Airdrie, Chestermere, and Okotoks.

Make as many observations as you can and keep your goals on WILD organisms. Can you make a minimum of 100 observations?

Get creative and look in places you've never looked! (or places where few iNat observations exist). Dig a hole in your garden! Use a Marcro lens or a hand lens!

You may have seen that we now have the website in full-swing. You can find resources and information by visiting https://citynatureyyc.ca/

City Nature Challenge News!
The Global Organizers have put out an "Epic" video to get people around the world amped up for the event! If you need inspiration, look no further.

Only 37 days left to go until CNC 2021! This year we are aiming to amp up the Calgary participant numbers April 30-May 3. We made a #CityNatureYYC video to grab the attention of online audiences! If you're interested in helping to promote CNC 2021 please share and like the video!

Posters are being printed this week so you may see some pop up in your local park kiosks. Please email CityNatureYYC@gmail.com if you would like some posters or a presentation slide for for your schools or virtual events. Our educational resources including curriculum-based challenges will be online at www.citynatureyyc.ca in early April!

Enjoy the show!

We are less than 80 days away from City Nature Challenge 2021! It's blistering cold today in Calgary (-29 C but feels likes -39 C with the wind-chill). Keep your iNat skills in peak shape leading up to the event and If you're brave enough to get outside, you can still blitz your local neighborhood. Aim to capture some beautiful photos that highlight how cold it really is. Look for hoarfrost on plants, capture the steamy breath of wildlife like birds at your feeders, record tracks and try to identify which animal made them, and document those little pops of color that lichens offer throughout the year.

We're looking forward to another great year with around 325 cities worldwide expected to take part. ~25 Canadian cities with five areas in Alberta taking part. Edmonton, Red Deer, Camrose, Lethbridge, Calgary (Okotoks, Chestermere, Airdrie, and Cochrane) will go head-to-head in a friendly battle of the prairies. Check out the City List to explore all of the cities here: https://citynaturechallenge.org/city-list-2021/