City Nature Challenge 2021: The Maritimes Umbrella Project's Journal

April 29, 2021

Is there a chorus of song outside your window now that spring has arrived? If yes, we have an activity for you!

Looking for a way to participate in the upcoming City Nature Challenge (April 30 – May 3)?

Perhaps Maritime birders, naturalists, and new iNatters can help compile/share bird songs from our communities – no need to go outdoors – just open a window!

The free iNaturalist app includes an 'add an observation’ feature that offers the option to record a sound in addition to the standard take a photo.

Currently 2,105 people have shared photos of 386 species from Nova Scotia in iNaturalist but only 90 have shared sound recordings of 109 species. (https://tinyurl.com/u8pyyjma)

It will be interesting to see how these stats and those from NB and PEI have changed by the end of the 4-day challenge.

Practice using the app 'record sound' feature today.

Posted on April 29, 2021 02:03 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 27, 2021

Finding and photographing spiders for the City Nature Challenge

by Sean McCann (ibycter). Sean is a naturalist and spider enthusiast living in Wolfville Nova Scotia.

I would like to encourage you, during the upcoming City Nature Challenge, to try to find some spiders around your home and in the field that can be included in your iNaturalist submissions!

You may find many spiders just by careful searching, looking on surfaces such as fences, walls, and bare ground. One of the most obvious groups are the jumping spiders. These can be photographed relatively easily, and luckily many species can be identified with just good quality photograph of their patterns.

Two species you may encounter are the introduced Salticus scenicus (zebra jumper), and the wall-loving Platycryptus undatus (gray wall jumper). Both of these may be found on buildings, but also may be found on trees and fences. They are day-active spiders, and like a warm sunny day to go out hunting.

Keep your eyes out in forested habitats for the large and beautiful forest wolf spider, Hogna frondicola .

These attractive spiders are mating this time of year, and so both males and females can be found out hunting for food and mates. These are large brown spiders with a gray stripe down the back, and often one or two pairs of small dark spots on the abdomen.

If you want to find vegetation-dwelling spiders, try taking an umbrella, holding it under a bush, and vigorously beating the bush with a stick. This is an excellent way to find spiders hidden in the leaves and flowers that might not be readily apparent. You may find web builders such as orb weavers, or perhaps crab spiders this way. Look for Misumena vatia (the goldenrod crab spider) and the introduced Araneus diadematus (diadem orb weaver).

Go out, have fun, and try to get some spider images! I recommend getting images of the dorsal surface (the back) showing all the coloration, and if possible, a view from the front showing the eye arrangement. Enjoy your time finding and observing spiders!

Photograph anterior views!
Hogna frondicola
Habronattus borealis

Posted on April 27, 2021 07:00 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 2 comments | Leave a comment

April 16, 2021

The official CNC 2021 video has been released!

If you are looking to get inspired watch the recently released global CNC promo video!

Posted on April 16, 2021 01:22 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 1 comment | Leave a comment

April 5, 2021

CWF webinar - How to Record Observations in the App and Online (April 7th)

The City Nature Challenge is rapidly approaching! This is a great opportunity to introduce our friends, family, and neighbours to iNaturalist. To assist with 'spreading the word' the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) is offering a free webinar.

April 7, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. iNaturalist has become one of the world’s most popular nature apps and the Canadian Wildlife Federation has led the charge in bringing it to Canada. It’s more than just an app; there’s an entire online platform complete with image recognition technology along with a growing community to support you in your discoveries. Join us in leaning the ins and outs of using the app and iNaturalist.ca to record wildlife observations - from the tiniest bug to the tallest tree and everything in between. You’ll then be equipped and ready to take part in the City Nature Challenge, the largest annual initiative on iNaturalist, happening April 30 to May 3, 2021.

https://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/downloads/webinars/public/inaturalist-canada-how-to.html
https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/inaturalist/cnc/

Posted on April 5, 2021 11:05 AM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 25, 2021

Setting Goals for 2021

The global City Nature Challenge this year is not being promoted as a global competition to see who can be at the top of the leader board with the best stats for the number participants, observations, and species. It is being promoted as a collaborative event to help people connect with nature and highlight species distribution in urban and surrounding areas.

There are 23 Canadian entries in the CNC this year and we do expect that there will be competition for placement on this leader board! Likewise for the 7 Maritime entries. This means that it is important to share the word beyond our bubbles and encourage people to come out and participate. Hopefully they too will get addicted to iNat. It is a great way to connect with nature.

Now is the time to set personal goals for the CNC2021 - How many species do we hope to find over the 4 days? How many areas will we visit? How many observations can we share?

The stats for the individual 2020 Maritime entries are listed on last years project page - click on the leader board and then toggle through observations/species/observers. Here is the link: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020-the-maritimes-umbrella-project

Can we double these numbers in 2021?
10,518 observations
1,241 species
625 Identifiers
393 observers

Last year was a very rough and stressful year for Maritimers especially Nova Scotians but participants were still able to get out into nature during the CNC weekend in late April.

The stats for HRM in 2020 were 4,383 observations, 771 species, 381 Identifiers, and 194 observers.
The stats for HRM in 2019 were 7,648 observations, 888 species, 510 Identifiers, and 239 observers.

Posted on March 25, 2021 07:02 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 12, 2021

It doesn't have to be January 1st to set goals for the year - Now is a great time to set a target for the CNC.

I recently posted a link to an article published in the Chronicle Herald (January 2019) titled ‘THE ENDANGERED PERSPECTIVE: Can you name 150?’. This article written by Zack Metcalfe (zack.metcalfe@gmail.com) opens with the following sentence ‘Your average North American can recognize 150 corporate logos without practice or effort, a statistic made especially sad when you consider this same person can’t name most of the trees or birds or insects which make up their world’.

Zack's article is very interesting, and I recommend that people (re-)read it in its entirety.

I am bringing this article to light once again with the hope that it will spark a desire in others to set a goal for themselves for this coming year. As COVID and travel restrictions are likely to be part of our lives for the near future this is a great opportunity to get outdoors and explore areas close to home. Perhaps setting a goal to try and find a specific number of birds or trees or wildflowers or seashells would be a great ‘Bubble’ activity.

In order for the quest to be successful a bit of planning is required. Now is a great time to EXPLORE existing content in iNat for your favourite area and identify places to visit. What species do you recognize and know are common in your area? iNaturalist is a great way to learn their names.

Perhaps a related goal could be to share 50 observations per day during the City Nature Challenge… Is this number too high? Should it be higher? Could a target such as this be achievable with a little planning? Would a list of common species to start with be helpful?

Maybe the CNC could be treated as a scavenger hunt to find the following species – this quest might require visiting a number of different locations/habitats or maybe you will find many in your backyard.

Keep your eyes open for:

  • Dandelion, coltsfoot, daisy, buttercup, clover, strawberry
  • Blue flag iris, cranberry, mayflower, bunchberry
  • Ferns, moss, pitcher plants, lichen
  • Pine, spruce, tamarack, hemlock, maple, birch, oak, beech, ash, aspen, alders
  • Apple trees and pussy willows
  • Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam
  • Irish moss, rockweed, kelp, eelgrass
  • Mussels, razor clams, clams, scallops, periwinkles, moon shells, whelks
  • Crabs, lobsters
  • Centipedes, millipedes, slugs, earthworms, night crawlers
  • Mayflies, mosquitoes, bees, spiders
  • Ticks
  • Spring peepers and salamanders
  • Squirrels, mice, rabbits, beaver, porcupines, deer
  • Raccoons
  • Mallards, robins, blue jays, starlings, pigeons
  • Eagle, osprey, sandpiper, seagull
  • Canada geese
  • And of course fish!

Winter is a great time to dream and to plan for the spring. Why not set a few goals? Start today.

Posted on February 12, 2021 11:52 AM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 2, 2021

Do you want to participate in the 2021 CNC but the seven Maritime areas don't include your backyard?

There are many Maritimers who live in areas outside the official CNC areas. Hopefully these Maritimers will still be keen and willing to participate. The first priority, though, is to stay safe and observe all local travel restrictions.

For many Maritimers, if travel is an option, it is likely that there will be a CNC area just down the road from your backyard. The CNC may present an opportunity to get out and explore areas not normally visited.

For those who are unable to get out and help collect observations the CNC event does need identifiers! If uncomfortable with assigning species names perhaps browse thru unnamed observations and add coarse names such as 'birds', 'insects', or 'plants'. Help review observations and flag any cultivated plants or captive animals. Every little bit helps.

Another option is to offer to help mentor others - example keep an eye on what is being posted and point out either areas or species that have been overlooked. Maybe no one is posting spruce trees, or earthworms, indoor spiders. Or maybe no one has gone to the beach - this is a great opportunity to post photos of living critters (barnacles, periwinkles), seaweed, and seashells.

Here is a link to observations from the 3 NS areas for the month of April (from all years) - you can see that there are lots of gaps in the geographic coverage.

Browse thru the list of species on the main tab. See ones that are common in your area? There are 777 observations but only 51 evening primrose and cattails? Lots of colts-foot, robins, and squirrels. Not many photos of green crabs or wild rose.

Here is a similar link for NB
Here is a similar link for PEI

Now is a great time to explore not just what you personally have uploaded in the past but what others have uploaded as well.

How many species do you think you will be able to find this year? Start planning now!

Posted on February 2, 2021 08:21 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 22, 2021

Seven areas from the Maritimes are registered to participate in the 2021 global City Nature Challenge

Does anyone remember the Maritimes 2020 City Nature Challenge? Lets put 2020 behind us and plan for a great 2021.

The global CNC will take place once again in two parts. The first 4 days (April 30th - May 3rd) will be dedicated to recording observations. These observations may be uploaded immediately or a few hours or days later. The cutoff for uploading is May 9th. Observations may be identified at any time but the focus of the second part of the CNC is on getting as many observations as possible identified.

The CNC stats include the number of participants, the number of observations, and the number of species. It is fun watching the changes in the leaderboard over the CNC event - it is easy to tell when groups of iNatters in different parts of the world are sleeping.

There are 7 areas from the Maritimes registered to participate in the 2021 event. These include 3 areas in Nova Scotia (HRM, CBRM, and the Valley), 3 areas in New Brunswick (Westmorland County, Charlotte County, and Fredericton), and one entry from 'urban' PEI (combined Charlottetown and Summerside).

In order for our entries to be respectable we need everyone to participate. This is a great opportunity to introduce iNat to family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, and anyone else who might listen! If you are unable to travel and help collect observations from any of the registered areas you can still participate by helping identify observations. You can also mentor participants and suggest species that they should look for or areas to explore.

Mark your calendars today but don't wait until April to learn how to use iNat - get out exploring as soon as possible and make a list of places that you can re-visit once the challenge starts.

The objectives of the local organizers are the same as in past years. We simply wish to encourage people to get outdoors, to explore, to observe nature, to share observations, and to have fun.

To keep informed about the CNC in our area please join this iNat project!

And of course follow our Facebook page.

If you have any questions just send us an email at cnc2019hrm@gmail.com

Posted on January 22, 2021 07:26 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 7 comments | Leave a comment

December 8, 2020

Stuck inside? Time to add observations from the past (a repost from the Winnipeg CNC journal)

To help promote iNaturalist across the country many keen iNatters across the country are helping organize local City Nature Challenge events. Here in the Maritimes we have 7 areas registered. If anyone is interested in helping share information, and or provide ideas please get in touch by either sending an iNat message, a Facebook message, or send an email to CNC2019hrm@gmail.com.

Not only are local CNC organizers collaborating to find ways to highlight the Maritimes there is effort to collaborate with other CNC organizers across the country.

Last week an email was sent out to the Winnipeg organizers suggesting that people in their area could practice uploading photos to iNat by going through old travel photos looking for ones from the Maritimes... This lead to the following post being uploaded to their CNC project page by Mary Krieger on December 6th:

Mary Kennedy, organizer of several East Coast CNC events just emailed "Perhaps people out west need an activity this winter – perhaps at some point before travel restrictions they had the great fortune to visit the east coast. If they took any photos of local flora/fauna maybe this is a great time to practice uploading old photos that are in danger of being forgotten."

Actually, its a great idea to add observations from the past no matter where they are from - that magical trip to the tropics, that tour of the mountains, or summers spent at the cottage - the minimum requirements can be pretty easy to meet - an image that shows the organism, where it was observed and what day it was seen. The photos don't have to be perfect - simply to record the organism that you saw.

Phone photos usually have both the location and the observation time already in the digital file. if you are using the app to upload, just choose the library option and then select the image you want.

I usually use my computer for this task rather than my phone app - i long ago ran out of room on my phone for iNat images :). There's a green upload button near the top of every page of the website - I think they want to make it easy for you to find. Clicking on the button opens a page where you can either drag and drop the images or click on 'Choose images' and select the ones that you want. I find that uploading no more than about 50 images at a time is about right for my Internet connection (ymmv)

Each image will end up by default in its own little observation, represented by a bordered tile. You can select several tiles and click on combine to group multiple images of the same organism in the same observation. If you have an image that has two organisms - like a bee on a flower for example - use the duplicate button to make a copy. If you change your mind about an image, use remove to take it out of the queue.

Each observation needs three pieces of data added - the date, the place and what you think it is. The web page will try to read the date and place from your uploaded images - if it can't then you will need to add this data manually. You can edit more than one image by selecting them and then using the fields to the left of the web page to add the data. I have saved a bunch of the places where i go again and again in my pinned locations. This makes it super simple to add observations from those locations.

Identifying organisms doesn't have to be complicated - if you know the species, just type it in. Keep an eye on what ends up in the field - some common names aren't as specific as we might expect. If you are less sure - or can't find the name you know the organism by in the list - then just add the general group you think it belongs to. At its simplest, this is just choosing between plants, animals and fungi.

Add comments to the observations if you like - anything that you think important about what you saw, or where and when you saw it fits here. Then when all is ready , hit that green 'submit observations' button.

Here's some links to early observations in iNat - add a comment if you can add something earlier so I can update the post :)

March 24, 1974 the earliest observation uploaded from our event boundaries
July 22, 1933 the earliest observation uploaded from Manitoba
August 15, 1938 the earliest observation uploaded from Canada
January 1, 1801 the earliest observation uploaded from the world

Posted on marykrieger in the City Nature Challenge 2021: Winnipeg's Journal.

Here are stats from our Maritime areas: June 25, 1934 is the earliest observation uploaded from Nova Scotia; June 12, 1931 from New Brunswick; and December 31, 1969 from Prince Edward Island.

Perhaps you have photos in your files, or in photo albums, or maybe you know of groups that have photos associated with museum collections that could be dusted off and shared.

Posted on December 8, 2020 11:14 AM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 0 comments | Leave a comment

December 5, 2020

Are you ready for the 2021 City Nature Challenge?

Last January we asked local iNatters if they were ready for an unforgettable adventure and then proceeded to provide lots of information about iNaturalist, the global City Nature Challenge, and about the various local areas registered to participate. Click here to view the 2020 umbrella project and read posts from last year.

Despite the pandemic many Maritimers were able to get outdoors and explore their backyards and/or areas within their restricted areas. Getting out and observing nature was a simple way to reduce stress.

Who knows what 2021 will bring. Hopefully the sun will come out and people can get outdoors, explore, observe nature, and share their observations with iNat.

In 2021 the number of cities from across Canada has increased so if our Maritime entries are to place well on the leaderboard we will need assistance from our communities.

Join this 2021 umbrella project and follow our Facebook page for more news and updates for all the Maritime entries.

Don't wait till April to learn how to use iNat - start sharing your photos (old or new) with iNat now!
If you need help just drop us a line at cnc2019hrm@gmail.com

For more info on the global CNC project click here

Posted on December 5, 2020 10:19 PM by mkkennedy mkkennedy | 1 comment | Leave a comment