City Nature Challenge 2020: Boston Area's Boletim

Keeping the iNaturalist fun going... the Athol Bird and Nature Club is sponsoring MIDGE - the first Massachusetts Invertebrate Interlude Days with Great Expectations, or MIIDGE for short, on June 19th through the 21st. This project is set up to automatically collect all observations of invertebrates in Massachusetts made on those three days, but if you join this project, you'll get notifications of all of those observations as they're posted, as well as any announcements we make leading up to the event and afterward. Pull your moth lights out of the closet, pile all the field guides next to the couch for easy reading, and get ready for a bit of fun in this crazy year.

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/miidge-massachusetts-invertebrate-interlude-days-with-great-expectations?tab=about

What a celebration of backyard biodiversity! Three more days to help identify our observations... join in and see what other's saw around eastern MA this past weekend.

We know it is cold and rainy, but just a few more hours to make some observations. You don't have to upload until May 3... but observations need to be completed today. We are only 200 people short of last year's number of observers - help us grow our community and spread the word.

And don't forget to join us again tonight at 7 pm to chat about your favorite observations of the day! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cnc-daily-highlight-reel-tickets-102619164684

Don't forget to join us again tonight at 7 pm to chat about your favorite observations of the day! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cnc-daily-highlight-reel-tickets-102619164684

Don't forget to join us again tonight at 7 pm to chat about your favorite observations of the day! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cnc-daily-highlight-reel-tickets-102619164684

At present Boston is representing well in the international leaderboard! What a wonderful way to see the world celebrating urban nature. There are just over 9800 people worldwide participating so far and we have 190 people in the Boston area having made almost 2000 observations of over 540 species.

Get your tickets for our zoom meet-up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cnc-daily-highlight-reel-tickets-102619164684

Here we go! Can't wait to see what you iNat at home. We've also got a fun social media challenge going tag us @bostoncnc with your top three near home observations! #CityNatureChallenge

Hello CNC community!

We wanted to alert those who don't know about a series of events that will be taking place online both leading up to and during the City Nature Challenge! Our first event is a deep dive into using iNaturalist that will take place tomorrow from 12 - 1:30 PM. There will also be an iNaturalist Q&A session on Monday from 3 - 4 PM. All events can all be found on Zoo New England's calendar. Please make sure to RSVP using the Eventbrite links! We hope you continue to enjoy the outdoors while staying safe.

Best regards,
The CNC Steering Committee

Hello everyone,

We wanted to give an update on 2020's CNC situation. Given the current circumstances surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19, we are restructuring this year’s City Nature Challenge in the Boston area -- first, by renaming it the City Nature Celebration! Instead of competing, we seek to share appreciation of nature and its biodiversity. To keep everyone safe and comply with rules around social gatherings, we are cancelling in-person events. Our goal is to help everyone participate in the CNC, even while keeping our communities safe.

Many are now taking solace in their time away from work or school by spending more time in the great outdoors. We encourage all to shift focus to the local flora and fauna of your own neighborhood, and backyards. By taking a closer look at your natural surroundings, we can gain a greater appreciation of local wildlife while also adhering to social distancing guidelines. We also want to encourage everyone to take care to preserve and treat natural spaces and creatures with respect.

National Geographic has some excellent activities described on their website that can be done right in your own backyard. Some other fun activities that can be done to explore your local biodiversity include setting up camera traps, building your own insect catcher, and installing coverboards to find all sorts of critters. Even lights in front of your own house can be used to attract insects at night, something that Project PorchLight focuses on. We hope that you all stay safe in this time but continue to observe and appreciate your natural surroundings.

Best regards,
The CNC Steering Committee

Boston Area City Nature Challenge Steering Committee:
Aimee Bonanno, New England Aquarium and New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative
Colleen Hitchcock and Isaiah Freedman, Brandeis University
Claire O’Neill, Earthwise Aware
Eliza Forman and John Anderson, Zoo New England
Peter Burn, Suffolk University
Pam DiBona, MassBays National Estuary Partnership
Stan Rullman, Kim Arlen, and Mark Chandler, Earthwatch Institute
Rob Stevenson, University of Massachusetts Boston

Hello City Nature Challenge Community!

Have you let us know that you’re joining in the 2020 City Nature Challenge? Still have some questions? Interested but not sure if it is a right fit? Planning on participating but haven’t registered as a collaborating organization for 2020? Don’t worry, there is still time… and in the meantime, why don’t your join us next week to explore the possibilities?

Whether you’ve already signed up or are still considering your options, we hope you’ll join us -- the CNC Boston steering committee -- at our first-ever City Nature Challenge Meet-up on February 10 from 12 - 3 pm at the Franklin Park Zoo! It’s free, and there will be snacks, and it will be a great chance to get together with others interested in supporting the CNC to engage our community in citizen science and documenting biodiversity in our area.

Use this google form to let us know your coming! In the form, you’ll also be able to indicate if you are a returning organization, or joining for the first-time. We’re also asking a couple of questions to find out what type of training or collaborations you might be interested in.

During the CNC Meet-up you’ll have an opportunity to participate in ‘How to iNat workshops’ for both new and advanced users, share ideas for how to engage your community, learn about Data Quests, and have all of your questions about the CNC answered. We look forward to connecting!

This year the CNC will have about 200 cities participating in this global effort to document urban biodiversity. The 2020 CNC: Boston Area will now include within the I-495 corridor, out to Stellwagen Bank, and include Cape Cod and islands. You and your organization can help boost Boston to the top of the leaderboard by making observations from April 24 - 27 and/or helping to identify observations from April 28 - May 3, 2020. Check out our website to learn more! You can also view our ‘Welcome Webinar’ from Jan. 13 on the CNC YouTube Channel. You’ll see it is divided into three parts: part 1 covers an overview of the CNC (including how to get involved), part 2 covers iNaturalist essentials, and part 3 is an open Q & A.

Thanks, we look forward to seeing you soon!

The CNC Steering Committee

Boston Area City Nature Challenge Steering Committee:
Aimee Bonanno, New England Aquarium and New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative
Colleen Hitchcock, Brandeis University
Claire O’Neill, Earthwise Aware
Eliza Forman and John Anderson, Zoo New England
Peter Burn, Suffolk University
Pam DiBona, MassBays National Estuary Partnership
Stan Rullman, Kim Arlen, and Mark Chandler, Earthwatch Institute
Rob Stevenson, University of Massachusetts Boston