Register now for CNC events this weekend.
The City Nature Challenge is unique in that anyone can participate anywhere in the area from April 26-29. But if you want to take part with an organized group there are many events being offered.
To contribute to the CNC you have to post your observations on the iNaturalist app or website. If you would like to learn how to use iNaturalist, or if you need a refresher or have any questions about the CNC, organizer Matt Wallace is offering a tutorial tonight, Tuesday April 23, at 7 pm. This will be done over Zoom. Here is the link to the meeting.
Matt has organized a number of events throughout the weekend. These include all-day blitzes, birding walks, and more specialized events such as pond study and a pollinator walk. Click the link below to see all the events!
Register for CNC events on this page!
For Nature Calgary members, there are three events on Sunday April 28 which are not full. These include a Birding Blitz on St. Patrick Island near the Zoo, a Bryophyte Blitz in the Weaselhead, and a Plant Walk in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. See this page to register.
More information from Matt Wallace:
April 26-29 take photos of wild plants and animals in your yards, neighborhoods, and favorite parks. Then upload your observations to the iNaturalist app or to iNaturalist.ca before Midnight May 5. This is the sixth year I have organized the Calgary CNC and it has grown immensely. There are over 700 cities involved worldwide and we are competing with them to see how many observations we can make, the number of species we can document, and the number of people we can get to participate. The two metrics I am most concerned with for our area are the number of observations and the participants.
My personal goal for CNC is that we can make a combined 10,000 observations or more during the four days. I also hope that we can make 250K observations by 2025 (We are currently at 169,000 observations just in Calgary). If each of us were to make even 10 observations over the weekend, we could make the CNC target and could be the top-performing Canadian city (49 participating Canadian cities this year).
The area which you can participate in during CNC includes: Calgary, Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Foothills County, and Rocky View County. Participate in groups, at events or even go exploring on your own. Heck, make a “big day” out of the four days if you’re up for the challenge. I have helped to organize around 15 events across the region all happening Friday-Monday which can all be found on the website below.
Types of subjects we love to see shared on iNaturalist include Birds, Plants, Butterflies, Insects, Fungi, Lichens, Mosses, Mammals (pretty much everything and anything but NO people or pets).
See my previous 2024 CNC post here.
Have a fun weekend and help this project reach its goals!