The 2022 City Nature Challenge is a 4-day, worldwide collaboration to get people observing the natural world through photography—and The Nat is coordinating San Diego’s annual participation! We're using the free iNaturalist app and iNaturalist.org website to tally results for photographs, or observations made in San Diego County. All wild plants and animals count, even non-native species.
The City Nature Challenge took place from April 29 – May 2, 2022. The results are in! And save the date for next year. City Nature Challenge returns April 28 – May 1, 2023.
Globally 1,694,877 observations were made. Over 50,176 species were spotted, and 67,220 people participated. And some of San Diego County's observations were even featured in the summary of results.
San Diego County came out and represented well!
An extra cool point: San Diego County had the 5th most RESEARCH GRADE observations globally. Good job following best practices, everyone! You can see all of the county’s observations and rankings here.
Major kudos to iNaturalist users patsimpson2000, rowshan_art, spifferella, mhrains, smfang, hikingsandiego, biohexx1, jacobogre, sage_and_seaweed, and docprt who were among the top ten with most observations and most number of species spotted in San Diego County. Awesome job!
Featured above: The critically imperiled western beach tiger beetle (Cicindela latesignata) was spotted by iNaturalist user mhrains.
It’s easy! You can go out on your own, join our partners at one of the many special events hosted remotely and around town, or find an event near you. All you have to do is:
And we have plenty of resources to help you along the way.
This county-wide effort is possible because of our dedicated partners. Interested in joining?
Educators—want to incorporate the City Nature Challenge into your curriculum? We've got your back.
City Nature Challenge exists thanks to its founding organizations, CalAcademy and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and thanks to support from people like you.