City Nature Challenge 2018: Houston's Journal

June 6, 2018

We want your feedback

Help us improve the future City Nature Challenge experience by giving us your feedback. Please complete the City Nature Challenge 2018 survey online.

Posted on June 6, 2018 06:23 PM by texasnaturetrackers texasnaturetrackers | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 2, 2018

IDs NEEDED!

Jenn Drummond has created a mini page to facilitate IDing those observations that still need to be IDed to species. This is an extremely helpful and cool tool.

IDers, please take some time before end of day tomorrow to help with the IDs.

Of course, we would love to move up in number of species for the competition, but improving all observations is our ultimate goal in making iNat as strong as possible. So any help is much appreciated.

CHECK THIS OUT. HELPFUL QUICK LINKS and great detailed info: https://jdrum.wordpress.com/houston-2018-cnc-quick-links/

Jenn, you rock! I plan on getting Andy an engraved flask. I'm not sure what you'll get yet, so stay tuned! Prizes! :)

Posted on May 2, 2018 07:35 PM by sflournoy sflournoy | 3 comments | Leave a comment

May 1, 2018

ID PARTY

Hello all,
It has been quite a competition, and California is proving to be an able fighter. We all have until May 3 to upload final observations (as long as they were taken April 27-30) and to make IDs. This can be a good way to increase our species count.

If you've like to join us for a few hours in an enjoyable group setting to make IDs, please see below:

ID PARTY
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
5pm-8pm
Nature Discovery Center
BYOL (Bring your own laptop)
Pizza, refreshments, beer provided
RSVP if you have not already: sflournoy@houstonaudubon.org.
*If you have not been to the NDC before, you will enjoy walking the grounds, too. Easy parking, laid-back atmosphere.

@anewman @laurenjansensimpson @dan_johnson @farkleberry @michaelgol @japlaca @gtguy @jennformatics @artemis224 @joanle0828 @bschrock2 @japearce @dwverser @corvid81 @keithcbiologist @drbh2o @terrywoodward @coeller @kelly99 @birdbug62 @greenamigo87 @ hanc_botanybattalion @grbfrog @ian @talkbirdytome @mabernathy @bobromero @bradyreed @cjohnsonstu @rjnjr @glmory @johnschneider @paulines @rednat @treichard @carol59 @jasonnaivar @mewaters @habitat_jaime @texaskingbird @erinnovak @seastar451 @stevebrennan @legolaws @brian1946 @lizzy3 @noreenhoard @jhamby184 @cassidyjohnson @silvan_shepherd @scottbuckel @atjelmeland @ddh

Posted on May 1, 2018 01:00 PM by sflournoy sflournoy | 4 comments | Leave a comment

April 27, 2018

Don't need to join this project

Good morning from Los Angeles! I wanted to address a concern that many people have expressed about adding observations to projects. Under the new project system, you don't need to manually add your observations to the project - it actually won't allow you to. Any observations made within the boundary of the project will automatically be added. Don't worry if you don't see them right away; it may take a few minutes. Rest assured, they will be counted!

I'm sorry for the confusion and frustration about this matter. Please share this with your project participants and let them know that their observations are being counted!

I wish you all a good day of bioblitzing.

-Amy


Amy Jaecker-Jones
Coordinator, Community Science Program - City Nature Challenge
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
ajaecker@nhm.org

Join the City Nature Challenge April 27-20! citynaturechallenge.org

Posted on April 27, 2018 05:06 PM by texasnaturetrackers texasnaturetrackers | 1 comment | Leave a comment

April 2, 2018

City Nature Challenge Update

Hello All,

I’m reaching out to you because you are on of Harris County’s top 50 observers on iNaturalist! The 2018 City Nature Challenge is quickly approaching and will be held April 27 to 30, and we need your help to get Houston to the top again! If you haven’t participated in City Nature Challenge, it is an awesome opportunity to get out and make as many observations and identifications as possible during the designated time period. Houston is competing with cities across the nation to try and get the most observations, highest number of species, or other categories. Last year Houston came in first for highest number of species!

I wanted to share some CNC links for both new participants and experienced participants to help get ready and spread the word about this awesome event. A special thanks goes out to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for coordinating this event statewide and providing these resources.

First, if you have any events to promote CNC or coinciding with CNC, you can submit that information to be included on the master list of all events for Texas. Currently, Dallas has many more events listed than we do. The form to list your event is found at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFHxkKLxxmkrD34V1pTLq6lEuHFNgGlQqdIApAqkxGGBDRsQ/viewform. If you are interested in seeing what events have already been posted, you can view the list at the TPWD City Nature Challenge page at https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/naturechallenge/. If you want us to share your event even further, we are also happy to share it on the Houston City Nature Challenge Facebook page!

There are a few changes to the City Nature Challenge this year, including the fact that photos can be uploaded and identified all the way up to May 3. This gives us more time to get those IDs in, helping us get the highest numbers possible. Because of this, we are looking for experts to invite to an “identification party” sometime between May 1 and 3. If you know of anyone who would be a good resource for this event, please send them our way.

And, if you are new to iNaturalist, be sure to create an account online and/or download the app. To learn more about iNaturalist, visit https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started, or check out the iNat PDF instructions attached. To officially join the Houston City Nature Challenge through iNaturalist, visit the 2018 Houston Project page (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2018-houston) and click “join project” located at the top right of the page.

Finally, we would like to thank all of our committed partners who are helping spread the word and are working to make this an incredible event (and help Houston win)!

Citizens Environmental Coalition
City of Pearland
Coastal Prairie Partnership
Environmental Institute of Houston
Galveston Bay Area Chapter – Texas Master Naturalists
Galveston Bay Foundation
Harris County Precinct 4
Houston Arboretum and Nature Center
Houston Native Prairies Association of Texas
Houston Parks Board
Houston Parks and Recreation Department
Houston Wilderness
Katy Prairie Conservancy
Memorial Park Conservancy
Native Plant Society of Texas-Houston
Nature Discovery Center
Student Conservation Association
Texas A&M Forest Service

Thanks so much, and please let me know if you have any other questions!

Best,
Anna Vallery
Conservation Specialist
Houston Audubon

@anewman @laurenjansensimpson @dan_johnson @farkleberry @michaelgol @japlaca @gtguy @jennformatics @artemis224 @joanle0828 @bschrock2 @japearce @dwverser @corvid81 @keithcbiologist @drbh2o @terrywoodward @coeller @kelly99 @birdbug62 @greenamigo87 @ hanc_botanybattalion @grbfrog @ian @talkbirdytome @mabernathy @bobromero @bradyreed @cjohnsonstu @rjnjr @glmory @johnschneider @paulines @rednat @treichard @carol59 @jasonnaivar @mewaters @habitat_jaime @texaskingbird @erinnovak @seastar451 @stevebrennan @legolaws @brian1946 @lizzy3 @noreenhoard @jhamby184 @cassidyjohnson

Posted on April 2, 2018 06:46 PM by avallery avallery | 30 comments | Leave a comment

January 21, 2018

Mark your calendars for April 27 - 30! We need your observations!

Calling all naturalists in and around Houston! We need YOU! This year's City Nature Challenge is on April 27 - 30, so you can go anywhere within the range (as seen in the above map on the project page) and make observations that will count this year. This is a competition among 65 cities in 15 different countries around the world. Can Texas compete? We think so! But we need your help. Any and all observations count, but the most valuable observations are made on public property (parks, right-of-ways, preserves, etc...) and are of wild (non-cultivated/not captive) organisms. Other observations count, of course, but the wild organisms found on public property can influence management and policy. Wherever you are, observe some things on April 27 - 30! Observations have to be uploaded before May 4 to count as well.

There is a global website here: http://citynaturechallenge.org/ Hopefully we'll have a TX website as well -- stay tuned!

Tagging some of the big users around Houston -- please tag others that you think would also want to participate. It's also quite fun to get together with others and deeply explore an area -- connect with some of the other naturalists in the area! :)

Posted on January 21, 2018 06:44 PM by sambiology sambiology | 15 comments | Leave a comment

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