The results are in for 2023! Thank you to everyone who participated in the City Nature Challenge in New York City and around the world!

This year, 482 cities across 46 countries participated in the City Nature Challenge and together we've beaten last year's global observation record! Over 66 thousand people across the globe made over 1.87 million observations of over 57 thousand species. The most observed species globally was the Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) with over 5035 observations. The global organizers at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of LA created an awesome infographic with these results and some other interesting finds. Check it out here.

New York City Results

We hope everyone has dried off by now from what was likely the rainiest CNC we've ever had here in NYC. Unfortunately, about a third of our planned public events had to be cancelled due to the weather, but we still had lots of people out making (sometimes very wet) observations of nature! Together, NYC had 14,391 observations of 1555 species made by 505 people. CNC brought in 154 new NYC observers to iNaturalist, 6,265 new "Research Grade" NYC observations, and 63 species new to the iNaturalist database for New York City. Great job, everyone!

The City Nature Challenge is a collaborative celebration of biodiversity and the 482 participating cities were not competing against each other. However, as always, we do have some interesting comparisons to report. Out of the 86 cities that share our climate zone classification (Cfa), New York City is ranked 9th for observations and number of observers. Out of the 42 similarly-sized geographic areas (between 500-999 sq. km), New York City is ranked FIRST for observations and number of observers!

Let's give a shoutout to our top observers, species finders, and identifiers in NYC, and an extra special shout out to @srall, who split her time between two cities this year and is ranked #8 globally for observations in the whole City Nature Challenge!

Top 10 NYC Observers

@mugglelissa, @susanhewitt, @srall, @zitserm, @jesseanne, @zihaowang, @irag, @klodonnell, @lisabrundage, @kellycarrot

Top 10 NYC Species Finders

@zihaowang, @zitserm, @susanhewitt, @srall, @jesseanne, @mugglelissa, @irag, @kellycarrot, @klodonnell, @spuytenduyvilny

Top 10 NYC Identifiers

@nycnatureobserver, @peakaytea, @srall, @sadawolk, @djringer, @spuytenduyvilny, @jo1010, @zahnerphoto, @igor_kuzmin, @xris

Battle of the Boroughs

Three different boroughs won each of our categories this year. The most observations were made in Manhattan, the most species were found in Queens, and the most observers were in the Bronx.

Let's also recognize the top observer and species finder in each borough. They are:
Bronx: @mugglelissa (obs) and @zihaowang (spp)
Brooklyn: @lisabrundage (obs) and @zihaowang (spp)
Manhattan: @susanhewitt (both)
Queens: @zitserm (both)
Staten Island: @srall (both)

And let's give a big thank you to our borough captains for leading the way in their boroughs: @glyptostrob0ides in the Bronx, @xris in Brooklyn, and @mspceco and Danny DiMarino in Manhattan.

Greenspace Race

This year, 9 NYC green spaces joined the Greenspace Race led by @mspceco. Together, 101 observers made 1,447 observations of 471 species.

MANY THANKS

We absolutely could not run a successful CNC:NYC without all of our wonderful partners: ASLA-NY Plant Research Group, American Museum of Natural History, Billion Oyster Project, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Friends of Spuyten Duyvil, Genspace, Green-Wood Cemetery, Greenbelt Conservancy, Lower East Side Ecology Center, Madison Square Park Conservancy, Macaulay Honors College, Manhattan Land Trust, New York Botanical Garden, NYC Parks, NYC Pollinator Working Group, NYCH20, Prospect Park Alliance, Riverside Park Conservancy, Stewards of Ewen Park, Stewards of Henry Hudson Park, The Bee Conservancy, The Friends of Governors Island, Torrey Botanical Society, UrbisEco, and Washington Square Park EcoProjects. Thanks for everything you did to make this year a success, including coming to planning meetings, spreading the word about CNC, and making your own observations and identifications, and many many thanks especially to those of you who hosted or organized CNC related events this year. Even if the events ended up cancelled because of the weather, we so appreciate the time and effort you put into planning them. You all are what makes this event such a success! THANK YOU!

We also would like to thank some great Macaulay Honors College student volunteers who attended events and served as iNaturalist pros to help the participants started on iNaturalist: @dshair, @itsesmetzis03, @yellowtulip, @respectable_absorption, @jacky_, and @julia_aiello. THANK YOU!


The dates have already been set for next year's CNC: April 26, 2024 - April 29, 2024! (this date has been corrected). There won't be much activity until late in Summer 2023, but if you join the CNC:NYC 2024 project page now, you'll get updates when they are posted. Until then, happy observing!

Thanks, NYC, for a great CNC!

Posted on May 8, 2023 11:55 PM by klodonnell