Ready for the 2021 City Nature Celebration? We Surely Are!
Between April 30th and May 3rd, hundreds of cities worldwide will be celebrating Nature and gather observations of species found in our area with the help of all who want to participate in the worldwide 2021 City Nature Challenge (CNC). Such events are known as Bioblitz events.
EwA focuses on collaboration and runs its events as co-creative opportunities. Aligned with our values, the CNC events organized by EwA also encourage collaboration over competition. As for the Global CNC event: it will continue to monitor the situation with regards to COVID-19 as we move into 2021. Our implementation of the CNC 2021 will be a collaboration and focused on our immediate environment in 2021 (our yard, our streets). CNC 2021 wants citizen/community scientists around the world to have the opportunity to participate, while still following all federal and local recommendations to keep communities safe. For detailed information about how the City Nature Challenge is adapting to COVID-19, visit citynaturechallenge.org/COVID19.
EwA is a member of the CNC steering committee for the Greater Boston area. We also participate actively in the bioblitz. As for all, COVID-19 rules EwA’s life and its group events: The health of our communities is the most important to us, so we will only hold very small events with a strong distance policy during the City Nature Challenge. It should not prevent you from observing and recording in place, right where you are. We will also hold virtual meetups to help you with iNaturalist and show you what you can (and how to) observe in your city and in the places where we study urban and climate effects on local biodiversity (including in Somerville, Fresh Pond Reservoir, Middlesex Fells and Horn Pond)./p>
Join any of these webinars! They are fun and insightful. These days they also bring relief by connecting us with Nature. They are also great tools to deepen wildlife ethics and help science while getting to learn about our communities and their biodiversity!
There’s a lot that you can do to help pollinators & insects. Join us & marvel at what volunteer citizen scientists saw, discovered, and recorded in our cities this past year. in 2020 and what you can do this year during and beyond the scope of this year’s City Nature Challenge. There is so much that we can do to help. Join us and learn how.
After a brief introduction to iNaturalist, we will focus on what you can expect to see in Urban areas: trees, wildflowers & birds are getting active at this time of the year. You’d be surprised to see how rich still an urban environment can be. Right where we live, there are nuthatches, flickers, black squirrels, and a myriad of wildflowers! You’ll also learn about wildlife ethics and iNat tips and tricks.
This is the CNC 2021 edition of our monthly nature documentation walk! Join EwA’s citizen scientists for a casual walk focusing on observing and recording the incredible biodiversity of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. We’ll share how to take identifiable photos, and where to look. This time our observations will count explicitly towards the City Nature Challenge 2021 international bioblitz.
We are needed all over the World to take observations (with our phones and cameras) of as many species as possible. The more the better! This information will help to get a more accurate picture of the biodiversity in the Boston area, focusing within the I-495 corridor and out to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Any observation of plants, animals, fungi, even microbes, made in the greater Boston area during these days, will count for the challenge.
This is a national event encouraged by iNaturalist, open to anyone in the World and here in the Boston area.
Taking part is easy and free! To participate with us:
2) Once you registered on iNaturalist, please send us your profile name at citizenscience@earthwiseaware.org, so that we get your observations counted explicitly in our EwA challenge project! We’ll generate a report after the challenge to show our participants’ contributions. 3) Get familiar with the app. Check the iNat short Getting Started guide and video tutorials. You can also join any of our citizen science crash courses prior to the challenge and listed in our calendar [» EwA’s Events Calendar] 4) Get outside & find wildlife. 5) Take a picture and then share your observations. Make your observations relevant to science following EwA’s observation and recording guidelines (it’s easy!).
You can also join the many organized events in your area (find if your city participates in the event). We will specifically host events between April 30th and May 3rd. Each of our events will be about 2 hours long, and you’ll learn and share a ton with us!
Come & Join us! It’s a lot of fun and for the great purpose of helping scientists to better protect the Nature that we love!
What you’ll learn with us by joining any of our events
Besides having a great time, you’ll also learn about:
꙳ Biodiversity. History; Biodiversity status & threats; Why it is important to protect it
꙳ The importance of everyone’s participation through Citizen Science. What it is and its impact; Origins of biodiversity challenges; How you can join the effort
꙳ How to ethically observe and record nature & wildlife sightings. Safety and ethical practices; Major species families; Captive (or cultivated) vs. wild observations; How to take pictures and of what; What information to record along with a sighting
꙳ How to use recording apps such as iNaturalist like pros
Events List
Introduction to Citizen Science & CNC Webinars (Jan – May)
Climate & Biodiversity sciences need you and the information that you can collect. The good news is that you can really make a difference! This is a crash course about participative science (a.k.a. citizen science), which is the active public involvement in scientific research. In this class, we introduce you to what citizen science is, why it is needed, where it is needed, how you can help (individually or joining some of our local projects in local parks and reservations), and some of the popular tools used in citizen science projects.
Join us. It’s fun & exciting. Let’s make a difference together!
💻 EwA iNat for the Advanced User (virtual workshop on-demand) » 📧 Contact us!
💻 CNC 2021 – How-to & What to Expect to See » 🎟️ Registration
Species Recording Events (April 30 – May 3rd):
Together let’s observe & record what we see right where we live! Avoid traveling – stay in place – explore your street, your backyard, your walking distance park. At all times, respect the necessary physical distance between people and as recommended by CDC, the State and the city where you reside. iNat with wildlife in mind: give them distance too!
Don’t miss EwA’s only CNC Field Event this year in the Fells (05/01/21 9:30 am) » 🎟️ Registration
Check EwA’s City Nature Challenge iNat project > https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ewa-city-nature-challenge-2021 and its blog to follow up on our observation records and tally.