The 2024 City Nature Challenge promises to be the biggest yet with 691 cities in 51 countries on all seven continents participating! It is so big this year that two umbrella projects are needed to hold all the projects for the participating cities.

• City Nature Challenge 2024 North and South America
• City Nature Challenge 2024 Eurasia, Africa and Oceania

The Canadian Wildlife Federation is hosting some online workshops to help you get into the swing of things. Their tips will offer invaluable insights and practical tips to make your CNC experience a resounding success. Watch for journal posts here to give a local spin on their pointers.

You can register for each free City Nature Challenge webinar by following the links below.

	Observing with iNaturalist in urban spaces Thursday, April 18, 2024 12-12:30 p.m. ET Those who work downtown or enjoy a stroll at the Forks will find lots to observe. Migration is well underway and many birds are travelling north right through the Winnipeg. Look out for the very earliest insects on warm days in sunny spots.And don't miss your chance to observe the noble Canada goose! :)
	Observing with iNaturalist around wetland habitat Friday, April 19, 2024 12-12:30 p.m. ET Both Oak Hammock Marsh and Fort Whyte Alive! are bursting at the seams with migrating waterfowl. The skunks are awake and the coyotes can be heard singing at night. A gentle reminder that the Harry Enns building at Oak Hammock is still closed while renovations are proceeding. Trails are still open as are the pit toilets at the South Mound.
	Observing with iNaturalist in forest settings Monday, April 22, 2024 12-12:30 p.m. ET Forest habitat tips will be useful in regional parks like Assiniboine Park, Kildonan Park or St. Vital Park. Areas of more natural forest can be found In Little Mountain Park, La Barriere Park and Assiniboine Forest; and along the Red and Assiniboine Riversas well as the smaller Seine River and Bunn's Creek. Birds Hill Provincial Park and Beaudry Provincial Park also are great places to find forest dwellers - remember you will need a vehicle pass to take a motorized vehicle into Manitoba provincial parks.

Spring is a good time to find galls. While the leaves are still not yet out, it is easier to see those galls that persist through the winter.

Galls are plant deformities caused by other organisms. The plant host responds to chemical secretions from the organism to build uniquely shaped structures that always benefit the gall inducer and sometimes also benefit the host.

Gall inducers can frequently be identified simply by the shape and placement of the gall plus the identity of the plant hosting the gall. Gall inducers specialize in specific groups of plants or sometimes even a single species.

Observers can use the 'Host Plant ID' observation field to add their identification of the plant host to their observation of the gall. If the id is one of the gall former species or even just the family that gall formers belong to, you have the option to choose 'Gall' under Evidence of Organism.

Many gall structure are quite small so you will need to get up close and personal to find them. Collect images of the general location and appearance of the plant deformity and then zoom in to show the specific shape and texture of the tiny structure. A single tree may have multiple different galls on its leaves and branches. Its neighbour may have still other species to find. Soon you will know where to look for species in our area and recognizing when you have discovered something new and exciting.

The Gall Week April 2024 project (https://inaturalist.ca/projects/gall-week-april-2024-event ) is a traditional projects. You will need to join the project first then add your gall observations manually.

The last few days of Gall week overlap with the first three days of this years City Nature Challenge. Check out what going on with at this link. https://inaturalist.ca/observations?project_id=182602

Happy gall hunting!

midnight your time - wherever you are located. The observation period for this years City Nature Challenge runs from the very beginning of April 26 to the very end of April 29. The challenge has become a global Earth week tradition - a four day bioblitz focused on where people live work and play.

Its a great way to celebrate the return of spring here in the north even if the weather can be a bit changeable. The spring bird migration is bringing us new opportunities every day. The tree sap is rising and there are even some insects about whenever the temperature rises above 10 degrees Celsius.

Looking forward to sharing what I find and seeing all the new discoveries!

Its almost here - the annual global bioblitz to celebrate Earth Week. You can join in by simply adding observations of nature from the spaces where you live, work and play.

Its a great time to invite a friend along to introduce them to using iNaturalist - and with two sets of eyes searching you will likely find even more things to observe.

The weekend weather looks a bit up and down with some wet patches - so dress up warm and dry. At least we won't need to worry too much about woodticks with these temperatures. :)

Looking forward to share with you what we find and anticipating with pleasure your discoveries!

The Forks is right at the urban heart of Winnipeg with all the city conveniences. The adjacent rivers also make it a good place to observe nature. Wildlife here is used to the people passing by so if you do not approach too closely you can observe their day to day activities without disturbing them.

The Richardson's ground squirrels are out of hibernation - you might know them better as 'gophers.' Look for them in the grassy area south of the Riel Esplanade pedestrian bridge or on the embankment east of the railway between York Avenue and the gravelled parking area.

Canada geese and mallards are familiar sights near the river bank. Migration may bring you some other interesting waterfowl - the pedestrian bridge across the Assiniboine from the Forks to South Point Park is a great vantage point. Peregrine Falcons have been seen in the province this spring so keep a watch out overhead. One of their steady diet items, the Rock Pigeon is usually not that hard to find nearby.

The river bank is graced with large trees - you can find Manitoba Maple, Eastern Cottonwood, Green Ash, American Elm and Siberian Elm. Identifiers will appreciate if you included images of the whole tree, any fruit/seeds and the twigs showing the leaf buds. While you are in the trees, keep any eye (and ear) out for birds and squirrels. If they are too quick for your camera, you can experiment with audio recordings.

Its early in the year for most of the plants. Some are already showing life with small green rosettes - for others you may need to depend on the dried out remnants from last year. Identifiers will appreciate you taking a minute to find the features that make that plant unique and include them in the images that you upload.

Enjoy your first day of the City Nature Challenge wherever it takes you!

White-faced Ibis

A flock of 14 white-faced ibises was seen near the University of Manitoba Fort Garry campus yesterday. In flight these dark coloured birds curved bills and traiing legs set them apart. Double-crested cormorants are also dark with long necks but have short legs and bill.

Here's an image of a white-faced ibis seen last summer by @carsonbirdware near Sifton.

Red Admiral

Red Admirals have been making an early appearance - though the cool temperatures may make them a bit harder to locate.

This image is of one observed by @codonoghue in Fort Richmond.

Here's all the ones that have been seen so far this April.

Happy Friday!

Well that was a wet one! And it looks like it will be a windy one today. Here's some highlights from what has been posted already.

@seraphinpoudrier found this Black knot fungus growing on a chokecherry bush near the Seine River.

@arikat found these first shoots of the native stinging nettle just emerging in Kildonan Park.

@carolannvermeer got a great shot of a somewhat damp Cooper's Hawk in Kildonan Park.

@miskwaabiimag found a delicate Splitgill fungus on some deadwood near the Assiniboine River.

@rebelnerd7 posted a sequence of a very damp squirrel in Transcona which really communicates what the weather was like yesterday.

@codonoghue captured the moment when a yellow rumped warbler decides if the floating speck is food ....or not food in Kings Park

I enjoyed finding this willow in full bloom in Grosse Isle.

Observations made before midnight April 29 are still part of the event. Everything does not have to be uploaded to the night right away - as long as the observations are uploaded before May 5 they will be counted in the event summaries. I have a lot of uploading in my future.

There are a lot of great observations already in the record. Our group was wondering if the turtles were awake yet and @rebelnerd7 found them in Kil-Cona Park on Sunday.

@arikat went looking for frogs and found them along with plenty of other life along the way. Listen to this recording of Northern Leopard frogs calling near Omands Creek on Saturday. The sound is a lot lower than the wood frogs when heard at a distance and you may not have noticed it before ... even if you do spend a lot of time outside.

@seraphinpoudrier has a close eye for detail and an inventive approach. Don't miss the group of observations made during the event of tiny animals stuck in the gluey bands people put on trees to reduce cankerworms. Here's a mysterious egg found on Sunday near the Red River in St Boniface.

@codonoghue continues a series of beautifully photographed slices of spring - like this Dark-eyed junco perched in Fort Richmond.on Sunday.

ek_99 was one of the lucky ones to find an early Red Admiral on a stucco wall north of Lockport.

@exploringlee found an elusive Brown Creeper on an oak tree along Bunn's Creek.

@free2fish got out the microscope to share with us the astonishingly beautiful life found in a drop of water from the La Salle River.

There are so many lovely things that people have found they won't all fit on the page - you will have to hunt them yourselves. Add a favourite to the ones that amaze you and I will share them up the chain. Please feel free to include your own observations - the ones that reminded you why you were looking and listening to begin with.

And then be inspired to find more stuff for yourself outside. Happy Monday!