During the 2021 City Nature Challenge, I explored my phenology spot, Centennial Woods. Nothing particularly interesting happened on my visit, but it was nice to see the changes of spring present in the area. Over the past few weeks we’ve gotten tons of rain, so hopefully that manifests in bright green vegetation for the rest of the spring :). My trip had all of the usual sightings: maples, eastern white pines, honeysuckles, paper birches, and various types of ferns. I also heard black-capped chickadees as well as a woodpecker. In my experience, using the iNaturalist app did come with a learning curve. While it was easy to categorize and identify my sightings, trying to research out what my peers found was slightly difficult, but in the end I figured it out. I think the app is a really interesting tool for all sorts of individuals with any interest in the environment or nature. It seems like a great educational resource to incentivize appreciation of natural areas, due to its game-like nature and social media-esque layout. When I go on my next nature walk at home I will be sure to make my own observations and check out what my neighbors have found.
When looking at the cohesive City Nature Challenge data, it was so interesting to see all of the diverse locations that participated. I would consider myself part of (or relatively close to) the Boston area, and they had about 22,480 observations: which is wild to think about. I also saw that a town my house lies on the border of, Tyngsboro MA, was participating and had 370 observations, with a total of 147 species. Next time I take a walk through my backyard I will be cognizant that it is full of diversity and not as boring as I think it is.