Passport to Texas

There’s plenty of wildlife and plant life in cities and the City Nature Challenge proved it.

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This is Passport to Texas

More than two thousand Texans uploaded tens of thousands of observations of plants and animals to iNaturalist.org during the annual worldwide City Nature

Challenge in April. Texas made a good showing in two of the three categories.

Number two in number of observations was Dallas Fort Worth they came in just behind San Francisco. And then for number of species Houston came in second, also behind San Francisco.

San Francisco also came out on top for number of participants. Marsha May, a Texas Nature Tracker biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, coordinated the Austin region.

There was one woman from Austin who amazed me. She pretty much covered the whole area: from far west Blanco County to far east Bastrop Country. She went to all these state parks. She was just constantly out there. She had a microscope that she had out in the field so she could get these entire little organisms. Unbelievable!

Overall, 17,000 people worldwide competed; they recorded more than 441-thousand observations—nearly three and a half times the observations recorded last year.

The data can be brought to the city councils in cities to say: Look at the diversity of species in our area, and the people involved. A lot of people say that there‘s no nature in cities.

But the City Nature Challenge tosses that assumption on its ear. Find more results from this year’s challenge at citynaturechallenge.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti

The kind of bird species seen in the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the City Nature Challenge.

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This is Passport to Texas

During the last four days of April, nearly 70 cities on six continents participated in a friendly competition called the City Nature Challenge.

[It’s about] who has the most wildlife diversity—including plants—within
their community.

Marsha May, a Texas Nature Tracker biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, says seven cities in Texas took part. Using the iNaturalist app, participants uploaded photos and audio of species they saw, competing in three categories: observations, species found and participants.

San Francisco came in first [in all three categories], and last was  Antarctica.

In Antarctica, three observers documented 27 species for 36 total observations.

I think it was amazing that they were involved, because the species diversity in Antarctica is not really large. But it is wonderful that they were involved.

Meanwhile, San Francisco documented 42-thousand total observations, followed by second-place DFW with 34-thousand. In species found, about a hundred species stood between second-place Houston and first-place San Francisco. Regarding participants, SF had more than 1500, whereas no city in Texas cracked the top five.

Tomorrow: more about Texas and the City Nature Challenge results

Our show receives support in part from Ram Trucks: Built to Serve.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti

Join the City Nature Challenge.

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This is Passport to Texas

Seven Texas regions will square off as teams against the world and one another during the City Nature Challenge. Teams try to document more plant and animal species than their competitors. Marsha May is a biologist and coordinator for Austin.

And we are using a format called iNaturalist, which is a real easy way of collecting data. You don’t even have to know what it is, because other people will come in and help you identify it through the program.

Last year DFW, Austin and Houston were in the challenge, igniting friendly competition.

Austin and Houston competed for the greatest number of species. We were going neck-and-neck for a while. And it looked like Austin was going to win, but then on the final count, Houston won—by five species. Dallas/Fort Worth, though, had the most observers and the most observations, So, they won with observations, but they had a very, um, gung-ho urban biologist up there.

That gung-ho DFW urban biologist was Sam Kieschnick.
Download the app to your smart phone from iNaturalist.org. Observations made in the metro areas of each city during the challenge will be counted. Any last words, Marsha?

Sam! We’re coming. We’re going to beat you this time. [laughter]

The City Nature Challenge is April 27-30th. There’s more information on the Texas Nature Trackers Page on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Join the City Nature Challenge in your region.

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This is Passport to Texas

The first City Nature Challenge took place in 2016 between Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2017, 16 additional cities joined in, including Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Greater Houston. This year…

There are over 60 cities worldwide that are involved in this challenge.

Marsha May is a biologist and coordinator for the Austin region. Seven Texas regions will compete this year; the goal: document more species than other regions using the iNaturalist app.

We are competing against the world, and we’re also competing against one another. DFW is competing against Austin, competing against San Antonio, Houston—all seven of the regions that are involved in this project. It’s fun competition.

Go to iNaturalist.org to download the app to your smart phone. All observations made in the greater metropolitan area of each city—and uploaded to the app—will count during the challenge.

Then, all that data is collected in iNaturalist; it will be evaluated a week after the challenge is over, and a winner will be announced. Really, all you win is somebody beat somebody. So, everybody will be trying to get as many species as possible in their own regions.

The City Nature Challenge is April 27-30th, and a Nature Challenger rivalry is brewing in Texas. That’s tomorrow.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Upload images to iNaturalist during the City nature Challenge.

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This is Passport to Texas

In about a month, competitors from around the globe will head outside with their smart phones to photograph the flora and fauna of their regions, and then upload those images to iNaturalist as part of…

The City Nature Challenge.

Marsha May is a biologist and challenge coordinator for the Austin region—one of seven TX regions involved.

And there are over 60 cities worldwide that are involved in this challenge.

April 27th—30th, participants worldwide will try to “out-document” their competitors, for bragging rights.

All that data is collected in iNaturalist, and it will be evaluated a week after the challenge is over.

Regions can win for most observations, verified species or members. May said last year’s event drew nearly more competitors than they had experts to verify the data.

We really needed more people to help with verifying the observations. That’s the call [to action] I would like to make. So, if you’re a herpetologist, a birder, a botanist and such—please, help us verify. Go to iNaturalis[.org] and look for the projects. You can go to any one of the cities and help verify these observations. Because, the more we get verified—that’s research grade observations—so those count more toward this contest.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m
Cecilia Nasti.