Monday April 28, 2025
This weekend was the global City Nature Challenge BioBlitz: a challenge between cities around the world to see who can identify the most species within their area. As a part of the Greater Burlington Area team, I identified 36 different plants and wildlife species between the University Green on the UVM campus and Waterfront Park in downtown Burlington.
To record my observations I utilized the iNaturalist app where I can take a picture of the species I am trying to identify and it will offer suggestions of possible species. Coming from the old iNaturalist app, in which you could document species through images, videos, and audio recordings, I found the new app underwhelming and unhelpful. The sole option for observations is images which restricts you when attempting to identify birds by their calls. Additionally, the new app fails to try to help identify the specific species, but rather it will resort to a class, order, or family. I feel it greatly restricted my ability to explore what the plant or wildlife could be and prevented a greater amount of species to be spotted by amateur naturalists.
When looking at a handful of other cities that participated in the challenge, I found it interesting to see how many cities in South America focused primarily on wildlife rather than plants, like in Bogota, Colombia. Additionally, I found it so interesting that, through the pictures, you could see the changing seasons around the world. For instance, the images taken in Cape Town, South Africa reflect it is autumn there because of the mature animals and established plants, while images taken in Tokyo, Japan show that it is spring because there are young offspring and blooming plants.
The entries from my adventures that excited me most were of birds! I found common gulls, black-capped chickadees, American robins, house sparrows, and many more! Due to the restricted features of the new app, I was unable to record many or get a clear image to post on the challenge. Additionally, I was particularly excited to learn about the species “Candleflame Lichen” present on a tree I was trying to identify. Overall, the BioBlitz was super exciting and I am looking forward to participating again next year when the weather is a little kinder on those trying to identify.