Tag Archive | citizen science

When Migration Meets Modern Architechture

Nov8

A Morning with the Calgary Urban Species Response Team.

By Cathy Warwick

The last time I was hiking in the hills of Kananaskis south of Calgary I could see the downtown core, an island in the middle of an ocean of prairie. Hearing that birds tend to die in Calgary downtown I look at all the space to the left, and all the space to the right. Why don’t they just go around?

I had the pleasure of tagging along with Calgary Urban Species Response Team (CUSRT) volunteer Jenny for the post-dawn shift. I have since learned that, in fact, the birds are migrating 1-3 km up so they go over. 

CUSRT is a team of volunteers who survey the downtown for any birds or bats affected by architectural hazards. They go out in shifts throughout the day. The team is most active during spring and fall migration. Roughly 80% of birds migrate at night so the morning shifts are most popular. 

The birds will descend from their flight 1-3 kilometers up to roost and then become active during the day to forage. When they descend you can imagine that the downtown core becomes an island of light in the darkness. So birds may collide with glass as they enter the city at night. They also get into trouble during the day as well, when they find themselves in a confusing glass maze. 

Bird Collisions
Image from the Global Bird Collision Mapper showing bird collisions, downtown Calgary, circa Oct 22, 2026.

Prevention is Key

A major takeaway from my tag-along is that birds and glass don’t mix well. This completely obvious statement needs to be said because many of the high kill spot buildings in downtown Calgary are covered in reflective glass. Perhaps designers should make a left turn and go back to brutalist architecture? I used to like glass, somehow it looked more natural. I don’t like glass anymore! Bring on the concrete I say.

Calgary
Downtown Calgary

Many of the collisions in downtown Calgary happen in the northern part of it. The theory is that birds drop down to the vegetated area around the river for a rest. Once rested they attempt to continue their migration. Many follow the vegetation that continues south. The reflective buildings could be disorienting, causing them to collide with the glass as they try to continue. 

The +15’s (pedestrian overpasses) found downtown garner their fair share of the kills. The bridges that cross the road are usually all glass, so people can see out.  Just as reflections are hazardous to birds, so too are “fly throughs”.  A fly through is a situation where clear glass may have an attraction on the other side, such as a tree, a clear route or an inside plant. Birds don’t see the glass – so they try to “fly through” and collide.   

Sure, the glass is a nice design choice, it makes you feel like you’re outside. However, I don’t think that the people walking the +15 level would even notice some ‘Feather Friendly Film’ on the windows. These are little dots at regular intervals which are shown to improve bird safety. This film would improve the safety of all windows, residential and secondary homes included. There are also many other options for making glass safe, such as using art or well-spaced strips of readily-available bus wrap.

Most birds die if they collide with a window. If you see one and it seems to revive and fly away, unfortunately studies show that they actually don’t recover.  It’s critical that injured birds are secured right away, and taken to a wildlife rehabilitation clinic for appropriate examination, diagnosis and treatment.  Prevention of those strikes really is key.

Feather-friendly film
Feather-friendly film, FLAP Canada

During our survey I noticed Magpies starting to follow us, watching what we were doing. We had flashlights and were looking in the corners of the building and in planters. Once you notice Magpies around these buildings they are hard to un-notice. They are the clean up crew for deceased migratory birds. Often the CUSRT volunteers will document a pile of feathers, instead of an actual bird.

The other clean up crew are the human cleaners that work in the buildings. These hard working folks are up early looking and tidying around the buildings. The CUSRT volunteers have developed relationships with the workers. The survey team asks if staff can please put the dead birds in planters for the team to document and collect. 

Bird Collisions
More bird collisions, downtown Calgary.

Bright Lights, Bird Unfriendly

At night some buildings are all lit up with spotlights. This attracts the bats as well as birds. They use lights as a cue to their navigation during migration. If there are lights bright enough to rival the sun it’s no wonder issues occur.

The Bird Friendly Calgary group has a ‘Lights Out for Birds’ initiative that is aimed at spring and fall. From March 15 to May 30 and August 15 to October 31 they ask that we turn out lights at night. Particularly from 11 pm to 6 am. Light pollution affects many species including plants, trees, fish and people so reducing lights is wise year-round.  

Lights out campaigns are critical for many reasons, certainly including birds during migration.  The team points out that this isn’t enough action, though. After all, it’s the glass that actually kills the birds.

Roosting Crows

On the morning of my migration season tag-along we didn’t find any small songbirds deceased, however we did find two dead crows. Interesting fact, crows have chosen to roost around the southern edge of downtown – on 8th Ave and 9th Ave. One look at the white-splattered sidewalk and you can guess there are a lot of them. Jenny has counted 120 live roosting crows here before.

Jenny wrapped up the Crows and recorded them. 

CUSRT
CUSRT volunteer collecting deceased American Crows.

Jenny is a knowledgeable and hard working volunteer. Her reasons for joining CUSRT include seeing birds up close and getting closer to wildlife. 

This Fall season the CUSRT team has documented over 460 birds and bats as of October 25th. Forty-six different bird species are included in this statistic, many birds that you would never associate with downtown, including Sora, Varied Thrush, Townsend Solitaire, and Mourning Warbler.

Mourning Warbler
Mourning Warbler found in southern downtown. (Jenny)
Chipping Sparrow
Chipping sparrow. The most common deceased migratory bird found.
Chipping Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow

Bats in Downtown 

The downtown core provides habitat for several species of bats, including migratory and non-migratory bats, some of whom are thought to roost there permanently.  There is still a lot to learn about bats in cities, such as what attracts bats into the downtown, how light affects bats, how often do they actually collide with glass and what causes them to become grounded.   For whatever reason they are there. Becoming grounded in an unnatural setting leaves bats vulnerable.  

Bat
A bat grounded in downtown Calgary.

I enjoyed looking in the corners of downtown buildings, wielding my flashlight like a misguided cat burglar. After a couple of large coffees I went to my job with a feeling of accomplishment. It felt good to help out documenting a problem humans have created.

More information from Kathleen Johnson, Co-Founder – CUSRT 

  • Highrises , like Calgary’s downtown core, are indeed problematic for birds.  Research shows that 99% of collisions occur outside of the core.  This means it’s important for every one of us to make our homes, schools and offices bird-safe.
  • Collision birds do not “shake it off”. When YOU find a surviving collision bird, please get them to a wildlife rehab asap.  Please see the poster below for detailed instructions.
  • Window treatments – they need to be effective. Treatments need to be on the exterior of the glass, be spaced appropriately (no more than 2” apart if direct on glass or 4” apart for parachords), be visible (be wary of the over-the-counter UV products) and cover the whole surface.  

The family-friendly videos below share accurate information about window collisions and are great for all ages, including adults!

“Fun Birds Calgary fact… when I first went out in Spring 2019 to explore this situation for Calgary, Bob Lefebvre and Chris Fisher did our very first bird ID’s via Twitter!  Two Chipping Sparrows and one Orange-Crowned Warbler. Bob of Birds Calgary has always been a wonderful support and is so very much appreciated.  I’m so glad you got to go out with Jenny.  She’s tremendously knowledgeable and will have been a fantastic host on your survey walk. Big shout out to Sara, Jenny and each of the team for all you do ” – Kathleen Johnson

Information about what you should do if you find a Bird or Bat

If you have found a live bird:

Bird collisions

If you have found a deceased bird you can add to the data by logging it at the Global Bird Collision Mapper Or iNaturalist.

More Links:

Calgary Urban Species Response Team: https://www.calgaryurbanspecies.ca/

iNaturalist Bird Strike Reporting: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/calgary-bird-and-bat-window-strikes 

Bird Friendly Calgary: https://www.birdfriendlycalgary.ca/

Digital Bird Migration Explorer: http://www.birdmigrationexplorer.org/

Wildlife emergency?  CUSRT are not a rescue service or rehab. Please contact: 

To prevent death and suffering, birds affected by collisions require rehab care, even if they appear to be okay!

Calgary Christmas Bird Count 2026

Nov5

Registration is open for the Calgary CBC, to be held on Sunday December 20th.

Common Redpoll

Redpoll, Confederation Park, Calgary, 2018. Let’s hope we see lots of the winter finches in the city this year! Photo by Ron Chiasson.

The 75th annual Calgary CBC will take place all day on Sunday December 20th. As usual, we will need hundreds of birders taking part, either out in the field, or counting birds in their yards. Last year we had 154 people in the field, plus birders at 111 residences watching their feeders. We could use quite a few more Feeder Watchers to help fill in the unbirded spaces between the field teams!

Matthew Wallace is the organizer again, assisted by Lara Fitzpatrick, Zac Gillrie, Myles Kristalovich, and myself (Bob Lefebvre).

CBC began in 1900 and is the world’s longest-running citizen science event. The count has been going on in Calgary since 1952 and is a valuable resource for understanding species and population trends of birds found in Calgary and around the world.

Here is a link to the regstration form. When you submit the form, you will receive a confirmation email. We need everyone to register, even if you took part in previous years. This is so that we can be sure to have up-to-date contact information, and, for Feeder Watchers, correct addresses. Please share the registration form widely with your network of neighbours, friends, family, and colleagues!

If you’re not sure what is involved in taking part, please fill out the form and request more information.

We will begin assembling teams and assigning field leaders once registrations begin to roll in. We are currently updating our templates and backend spreadsheets with new taxonomic updates. Templates and instructions for both Feeder Watchers and Field Teams will be sent out in early December.

Thanks very much and we look forward to having you!

Matt Wallace, Bob Lefebvre, Lara Fitzpatrick, Zac Gillrie, Myles Kristalovich

Calgary May Species Count – Birders Wanted!

May15

Great routes available for the count on May 30 or 31, 2026.

Swainson's Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk on the 2023 Count, Longview area. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

The Calgary May Species Count will be held on the weekend of Saturday May 30th and Sunday May 31st. This is a survey of bird life in the entire Calgary region, a circle of 80-km radius centred on central Calgary. This is a vast area which is divided up into many routes with birders or teams of birders assigned to each route.

May Species Count map
The May Species Count circle is divided into about 50 territories.

As of today there are still several routes that do not have coverage, both inside and outside the city. In addition, there are routes with experienced leaders who would like some help in their areas, which is ideal for those who don’t want to take on the responsibility of leading a route. This is a great time of year to be out counting the birds so please take advantage of this opportunity!

Eastern Kingbirds are back in the Calgary region. Photographed in the Longview area on the 2024 Count by Bob Lefebvre.

Routes available inside the city include:
– Votiers Flats in Fish Creek Park – a mix of wooded and open areas along the creek.
– Confederation Park – small park in NW Calgary that is a great stopover for migrating birds.
– Pearce Estate Park – Wooded Park and a nice stretch of the Bow River.
– Elliston Park and 68th Street Wetlands – a great migratory hotspot for waterfowl, ducks, geese, and shorebirds in east Calgary.

Outside the city:
– Frank Lake and High River East – probably the best migratory spot for waterfowl, ducks, geese, and shorebirds in the Calgary region.

As I mentioned, there are several routes for which the leaders could use more sets of eyes to find birds. One route, a foothills area on Gorge Creek Road in the Sheep River area, has a single observer who would like some company not just to watch out for birds, but bears as well! A nice adventurous day of birding out there!

Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebirds can be found in many rural count territories. Longview area, 2025 Count. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

All that is required if you are leading a territory is that you try to cover your area as fully as possible, record all the birds you see on eBird, and share the results with Andrew Hart, who organizes the Calgary May Species Count.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact Andrew Hart at andrewhartch[at]icloud[dot]com or call 403.608.8918. Andrew will provide detailed but simple instructuons, and can assist you with eBird if you are new to it.

Please volunteer so that we have complete coverage of the count circle!

2025 Calgary Christmas Bird Count

Nov3

Register now to take part on Sunday December 14th!

One of the Field Teams at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary during the 2024 CBC. Photo by Paul Dang.

The 74th annual Calgary Christmas Bird Count (CBC YYC) will take place on Sunday, December 14, 2025. Here is a message from Coordinator Matt Wallace:

As you may know, Calgary hosts one of the largest CBCs in Alberta and Western Canada. In 2024, we had a total of 141 field participants and 163 feeder watchers, documenting 71 species and counting 39,446 individual birds. It’s a big job that takes an army of people to ensure its success each year. We hope you’ll join us again this season—no matter your experience or birding skills. Each one of you plays an important role, and the data we collect helps us understand long-term trends in our winter birds.

We’ve set up a Google Form that we kindly ask everyone to fill out so we have your most up-to-date information for analysis and team assignments. Please share the registration form widely with your network of neighbours, friends, family, and colleagues. Register Here. Once you submit your registration you will receive an acknowledgement email from us, followed by further instructions in mid-November.

A quick note: This year, I am seeking a “shadow” assistant (or assistants) to work with our organizing team. I plan to hand off the CBC Coordinator role to an inspired member of our community for the 2026 Calgary event, as I may be relocating in the new year. Finding a suitable successor will help ensure the continued success and legacy of this long-running event.

Sharp-shinned Hawk
A Sharp-shinned Hawk from the 2024 Count. Photo by Ken Pride.

Birds Canada has also launched a pilot project encouraging CBC circles to have Community Engagement Leaders (CELs). Calgary has been ahead of the curve in this regard—this has essentially been my role in recent years, while Lara Fitzpatrick has handled much of the data analysis for our circle. Bob Lefebvre is another key member of our team, overseeing feeder watcher outreach and following up on notable or unusual bird reports.

Birds Canada: The CEL roles are defined as:

  • Participant recruitment and community outreach
  • Helping manage sector/section/zone assignments and coordination
  • Onboarding new participants and facilitating mentoring
  • Coordinating communications with participants

This pretty much sums up what we are looking for in the “Shadow Assistant” Role with this person leading the charge next year. If you’re interested in taking on the coordinator role, there’s an option on the registration form where you can indicate your interest and provide a few details. We’ll be in touch right away to include you in this year’s planning. We encourage anyone with an interest to apply!

Bald Eagle
A Bald eagle from the 2024 Count. Photo by Andrew Hart.

Please watch for more information in November, including data submission instructions and templates.

A quick reminder that our CBC is open to anyone with an interest in the outdoors including experienced birders, novices, and the public. We try to accommodate all abilities and ages to grow and support our community, so please let us know if you need any assistance or have any requests using the comment section of the form.

Gadwall, from the 2024 Count. Photo by Andrew hart.

Register for the Calgary CBC here: https://forms.gle/pcAU6tH7Vcfk63sV9

Thank you very much for your attention—we’re looking forward to connecting with you all for our big count day!

2025 City Nature Challenge Events

Apr21

Take part from Friday April 25th to Monday April 28th.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

This coming weekend is the 7th annual City Nature Challenge in the Calgary area, organized by Matt Wallace. During this four-day event, particpants will document urban biodiversity on the iNaturalist app and website. Anyone can take part anywhere within the competition area:

City Nature Challenge Map
The Calgary CNC area.

Although this is a fun and educational activity, and a friendly competition between hundreds of cities around the world, recording our biodiversity is critically important to the cause of conservation. As birders, many of us record our sightings on eBird, which is great for research into bird populations. But when it comes to governments and industry making changes to the environment, iNaturalist is the database that is most often used, as it provides a critical understanding of our complete biodiversity so that we can make responsible development decisions. In the first six years of the Calgary CNC, over 40,000 observations have been made. This is a great start, but we can do much more to fully document our species and to fill in the map with observations. Go to the Calgary CNC website for more information, and watch the video below:

Anyone can use the iNaturalist app on their smart phone or the iNaturalist website on their computer at any time of year to contribute to our biological knowledge. But the CNC is a great time to learn how to do this. There are many resources on the CNC website about how to use iNaturalist, how to take good identifiable photos, and how to upload your observations (you have until May 4th to upload your observations for this project, so you can use this weekend to just make as many observations as possible, and upload them later). See the detailed page about iNaturalist too.

There are many events planned for the upcoming weekend as well:

Friday April 25 – Frank Lake Bird Walk, Nose Creek Bioblitz Walk.

Saturday April 26 – Nature Walk at North Glenmore Park, Guided Photo Walk in the Weaselhead, Bragg Creek Bioblitz, Documenting Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

Sunday April 27 – St. Patrick’s Island Nature Walk, Nose Hill Community Pollinator Walk.

Monday April 28 – The Plants of Britannia Slopes.

Please see the CNC Events page here for more information and to register for any of these events. Bring your camera and phone, learn about our natural areas, and help us reach our goal of 15,000 observations this weekend.

City Nature Challenge 2025

Mar23

Matt Wallace will be giving a presentation about this on April 2nd – book your spot now!

The worldwide City Nature Challenge (CNC) is back for 2025, and Calgary will be competing once again. In this four-day event, volunteers record photos and sounds of any living thing and save them on the iNaturalist website or App, generating a snapshot of the biodiversity of the Calgary region.

Matt Wallace
Calgary CNC founder and organizer Matt Wallace. Photo – the Wild Bird Store site.

The CNC runs from Friday April 25th through Monday April 28th. Calgary’s event organizer, Matt Wallace, will be giving a presentation at The Wild Bird Store to get you informed and ready to go.

Location: Wild Bird Store presentation space, 5901 3 Street SE.

Wednesday April 2, 2025, 6:00 PM

Ticket Price: $15.00 + GST

Matt Wallace is the organizer and founder of the Calgary City Nature Challenge (CNC). April 25-28, 2025 marks the 7th annual event for our city, but what’s it all about? This presentation will tell the story of how the CNC has been a catalyst for the growth of citizen science in Calgary and dive into what we have learned about our urban biodiversity and how you can help to protect it by sharing your observations.

You can book your spot on the Wild Bird Store’s Events page here.

This event is always one of the highlights of the year for all birders and naturalists. See the following for more information about how to get involved.

City Nature Challenge main international website.

Calgary City Nature Challenge page.

iNaturalist CNC 2025 Project Page

Also, check out the Wild Bird Store’s website for more upcoming speaker events, and sign up to get their free monthly email newsletter.

Birders needed for Calgary CBC, Sunday December 15th!

Dec6

Register here to join backyard feeder watchers, or urban walking or driving routes.

The more eyes we have looking for birds during the Calgary Christmas Bird Count on December 15th, the better picture we will have of winter bird populations in Calgary.

Cassin's Finch
Cassin’s Finch, the first ever seen on the Calgry CBC, in 2023. Photo by Laura Bentley.

We could use a few more people to join existing teams who will be covering established routes driving or walking in a few parts of the city. (Refer to the section numbers on the map below.) This includes routes in the far NW (N9), Beaverdam Flats area (E1), Dover/Erin Woods/Forest Lawn/Marlborough neighbourhoods (E-5), the area south of Downtown along the Elbow River (W-3), a large section of the SW including North Glenmore Park (W-5), the large western edge of the Count Circle from Canada Olympic Park south to Griffiths Woods (W-6), and even Carburn Park (S-1) which is the section that usually finds the most species of birds. Please register if you’d like to help out in one of these areas – you can specify your preferred section number when you register.

Some sections have no one covering them at all yet. If you would like to do one of these by yourself, or lead a small team, again please register. Areas available include Bowness including Bowness Park (N1), The U of C grounds and parts of Varsity and Shouldice (N-4a), Parkdale and the rest of Shouldice (N-4b), and the Capitol Hill area (N-7 lower).

As always, in addition to the field teams, we will accept as many people as we can get counting birds at their feeders in their yards. You can watch for as little as 30 minutes on Count Day. Just select “Feeder Watcher” on the registration form under “How do you want to participate?” (Note that you must live within the Count Circle as shown on the map, in order that your Feeder Watcher results can count for the CBC.)

Once again, the count is Sunday December 15th. Register here!

Join the 2024 Calgary Christmas Bird Count!

Nov2

Please register to take part in the field or at home

The Calgary CBC will be on Sunday December 15. We need birders to take part out in the field counting birds, as well as Feeder Watchers counting in their yards. All participants, whether new or returning birders, must register so we have up-to-date contact information, and, for Feeder Watchers, correct addresses.

Redpoll
Redpoll (at the time, Common Redpoll) taken by Lou Zaganelli on the 2023 Count.

Here is everything you need to know about the Christmas Bird Count, from organizer Matt Wallace:

I am inviting you to take part in the upcoming 2024 Calgary Christmas Bird Count (CBC) happening on December 15!

As you likely know, the CBC is the longest-running citizen science project which began in the year 1900 as a way to encourage people to appreciate birds while helping to conserve them through data collection. The Calgary event began in 1952 and is one of the largest CBC events in Western Canada with nearly 400 people participating annually. 

Consider this event to be the annual census of our winter birds in Calgary! It requires lots of people and effort to conduct this event, so we are always looking for birders of all experiences and abilities to take part. We really aim to use this event as a way to build up our community of nature enthusiasts and would love for you to share the event information with your friends, family, colleagues, and community.

Skip the details below if you’re ready to sign up and hit the registration form here: https://forms.gle/cNMoCPZZ9FNNrq3Q8

There are a few ways to participate:

Field Teams:

  1. We have 38 circle sections and assign people to survey designated sections. All birds are identified and counted, and it usually runs the entire day depending on our participant’s availability. Bird submissions are made via eBird and shared with our CBC Compiler account. We also accept field templates from people who prefer to use them.We have section leaders who work with their groups to determine meeting locations, targeted areas, summarize effort data, and submit it back to our compilation team. We are looking for both field participants and field leaders (both returning and new). 

Feeder Watchers (FWs):

  1. People (individuals and families) observe birds visiting their yards and feeders for a minimum of 30 minutes on count day. FWs submit their data using a pre-formatted template which we provide. FWs are very important for our count as they help to fill in the data gaps where our field teams can’t access due to time or privacy. FWs must reside within the count circle, but we will confirm your address to ensure you are eligible to participate.

Data Entry/ Analysis: 

  1. Anyone interested in helping us to compile data is welcome! I often receive hundreds of emails with data templates, photos, and stories of the CBC. I manage but would love to have an assistant to help with this!
  2. We continue to expand on our ways of showcasing the hard work of our volunteers. We have approximately 20 years of data (30 binders or so) which includes the detailed “section data” for the Calgary count. Yes, we submit all of the cumulative count “Circle” data to Audubon each year, but the section data is of interest to us on a local scale for showing how changes in our landscape and may influence bird populations.We would like to get all of this data entered prior to the 2024 count so that we can provide some additional infographics and analysis at the results presentation in January 2025. 
  3. In addition to the data entry, we would love anyone with skills in GIS and data visualization to join our compilation team in producing the final report (for media and the community).

So, all that’s left to do is register so I have your contact information, and we will be in touch soon! We look forward to you joining our CBC and thank you! Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions citynatureyyc@gmail.com. 

Register Here: https://forms.gle/cNMoCPZZ9FNNrq3Q8

Naturally, Matt

City Nature Challenge Events

Apr23

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.

CNC Map
The CNC area includes Calgary, Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Foothills County, and Rocky View County. Any iNaturalist obserations made in this area from April 26-29 will contribute to this project.

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.

City Nature Challenge

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!

City Nature Challenge 2024

Apr7

Thursday April 26 through Monday April 29

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The sixth annual Calgary City Nature Challenge is coming up soon. This four-day bioblitz is an effort to try to record as much of the Calgary and area biodiversity as possible. Cities around the world will be taking part in this effort, and competing to see who makes the most observations and records the most species. As usual, Calgary will be competing to try to increase our own participation and species numbers here.

City Nature Challenge

From CNC Organizer Matthew Wallace:

The sixth annual Calgary City Nature Challenge takes place April 26-29! Over 650 cities worldwide will compete and collaborate to showcase their urban biodiversity! Participate by taking photos of wild plants and animals in your yards, neighborhoods, and favorite parks over the four days. Then, upload your observations to the iNaturalist app or iNaturalist.ca!

There are several public events happening across the city which include pollinator walks, guided birding tours, and park bioblitzes. You can also just head out to explore on your own or with a group of friends.

Participate anywhere within the Calgary Metropolitan Region which includes Calgary, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Rocky View County, and Foothills County.

The deadline to upload your observations to iNaturalist is midnight May 5.

Cities will compete to see which can make the most observations, document the most species, and engage the most people. Calgary aims to be the top-performing Canadian city with a goal of over 10,000 observations posted. Make as many observations as you can April 26-29 so get outside and help to put Calgary’s biodiversity on the map!

Check out all of the CNC resources on the following pages:

The City Nature Challenge webpage. Watch the events tab as more field trips are added.

CNC 2024 Facebook Page

The Project Page on the iNaturalist website.

As birders, we can participate by taking as many photos of birds as we can over the four days. Any identifiable photo is good so don’t worry too much about the quality of your pictures. We also need to document everything, so don’t hesitate to photograph House Sparrows, Black-billed Magpies, and other common species. Then you have until midnight on May 5 to upload your photos to iNaturalist.

Bald Eagle
An adult Bald Eagle I photographed near the Inglewood Golf Course on the 2023 CNC. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

While you’re out there, you can also get photos of non-bird biodiversity with your camera. Maybe you won’t know what species you have, but iNaturalist has an artificial intelligence that can help with the ID, and even if you have no idea, other iNaturalist users will help to identify everything.

Green-striped Grasshopper
Green-striped Grasshopper
Canadian Beaver
Canadian Beaver (signs of a species also count)
Western Terrestial Garter Snake
Western Terrestial Garter Snake
Hunt's Bumble Bee and Golden Bean
Hunt’s Bumble Bee and Golden Bean (two observations)
Coyote
Coyote
Tansy
Tansy

These were a few of the other species I saw on the 2023 CNC. I didn’t know some of the species identifications until I entered them into iNaturalist. (Photos by Bob Lefebvre.)

Since I have my phone with me when I’m birding, I can use it to get photos of other species which are difficult to get with a big camera (photos by Bob Lefebvre):

Elegant Sunburst Lichen
Elegant Sunburst Lichen
Brickwork Woodlouse
Brickwork Woodlouse
Wormwood Wallflower
Wormwood Wallflower (not yet confirmed by the iNaturalist community)

I have found it to be a great experience to use iNaturalist to learn more about our overall biodiversity. Like most birders, I am interested in all of nature, not just birds.

Watch this short video about the 2024 Calgary City Nature Challenge:

Matthew has set a goal of having 10,000 observations made over the four days this year. In 2023 we had 9,301, so we are getting closer! We also hope to better our total of 762 species recorded last year.

So check out the project links above and plan to participate in an event, or just head out on your own!