City Nature Challenge!
This was a very cool event. I loved the opportunity to go out and observe nature as part of a wider challenge. While the competitive spirit was in the air between lab groups, it became a good chance to spend time outdoors together with friends and rack in observations.
I’ve used iNaturalist before, but not like I have within the past 4 days. I usually don’t like to use my phone while out in nature, however, it’s fun to be able to make observations in the field and get real time feedback from the ai, then later have actual people identifying with you.
I made a good chunk of my observations at Oakledge Park. My friends and I went down there to spend the Saturday, and I took it as an opportunity to rack in some observations. While I wasn’t super hopeful that I would see any remarkable species, like the harlequin ducks reported in the area, I was pleasantly surprised
Overall, I think I covered a pretty wide area within Burlington. The bulk of my observations were recorded in Centennial and around campus, simply because I haven’t had much a change to go elsewhere. I was curious to see what other cities were recording, and saw that the Greater Philadelphia Area had more participation than I anticipated (around 13,500 observations and 1,900 species).
Observing some species, particularly birds, I also began noticing how certain species use different levels of the forest. In the Redstone pines, I saw many kinglets and yellow-rumped warblers in the canopy, but some chose to come down to the understory. Whereas the pine warbler and American redstart preferred to stay higher up. The redstart was more inclined to spend time in the oak, while the pine warbler- apt to its name- preferred the white pines. As of now, I’ve made 76 observations and identified 56 different species, which is humble in comparison to my friends (who are lowkey insane- they’re out hunting for more species as I write this at 8:58pm).
I’m thankful to the City Nature Challenge for getting me out of my rut indoors and forcing me outside. I’ve also used my camera more times this weekend than any other time of the semester. To commemorate that, I’ve included a bunch of shots taken during the course of the BioBlitz. I hope you enjoy!
