City Nature Challenge 2023

 

City Nature Challenge 2023

 by Noel Boaz

The City Nature Challenge is a global bioblitz that happens simultaneously for four days at the end of April each year. It began six years ago as a friendly competition between two museums in California, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, and was aimed at documenting how much of the natural world still survives amid urban environments (quite a bit). The event has now become an international happening based on the use of the mobile phone app, iNaturalist. Virginia has been a leader in the City Nature Challenge with 7 cities/regions (including D.C.) taking part this year.  This exceeds the number of participating cities in any of our neighboring states and equals California and New York. Martinsville/Southwest Piedmont Virginia has taken part in the City Nature Challenge for the past four years.  This year our now four-county region, including Franklin County and centered on Martinsville, recorded 694 observations, 334 species of wildlife, and 30 observers. 

That is a great showing! Congratulations to our three champion identifiers -  Gael Chaney with 72 observations and 58 species, Kathy Fell with 81 observations and 57 species, and Regina Flora with an incredible 277 observations and 183 species identified. This year we more than tripled our number of observers, increased our observations by 4 1/2 times, and recorded 3 times the number of species over 2022. Our numbers are recorded on https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/current-results (under Martinsville for 2202 and under Southwestern Piedmont Virginia for 2023) for those who want to compare our results with cities around the world. Within Virginia we climbed to fifth place, ahead of the Eastern Shore and Blacksburg, but trailed DC, Charlottesville, Richmond, and Clinch Valley. As the map of observations shows, our densest area of activity was in Martinsville, but there are large swathes of all four counties, particularly in Pittsylvania, where we need more eyes on the ground.

 

To see what we found during the City Nature Challenge this year check out our project page on iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023-southwest-piedmont-virginia). The most commonly identified plant species was the beautiful Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata), which was used medicinally by Native Americans and at one time was (erroneously) thought to be effective in treating cancer.

Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)

Among a number of interesting insects that our identifiers found was an unusual one, the Jumping Bristletail (genus Pedetontus). This insect, I was fascinated to learn, belongs to a small order known as the Microcoryphia. A bit like “living fossils,” these insects represent an ancient lineage linking the Apterygota (primarily wingless insects) and the Pterygota (primarily winged insects) which are now thought to have diverged 435 million years ago in the Silurian Period.  Entomologists opine that bristletails resemble the first insects. There were several interesting spider species identified. A particularly striking mollusk reported was the Leopard Slug.

Jumping Bristletail (genus Pedetontus)

Our most commonly sighted birds (5 each) were the Blue Jay and the Northern Cardinal, the latter appropriately our state bird. Varied herptile sightings included the Common Five-Lined Skink, Eastern Newt, Chorus Frog, and Eastern Fence Lizard. Rounding out our species list were our most commonly seen mammals - the Common Raccoon, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Ground Hog, and Virginia White-Tailed Deer. As varied and diverse as this list seems, there was much that was not seen and identified. Next year, with more participants and more acreage covered, we hope to do even better in doucmenting the diverse flora and fauna of our region.

Next year’s City Nature Challenge will take place at the end of April, and our chapter is already signed up. There is a lot of nature out there and we would like to record and identify more of it, with your help. If you would like to join in as an organizer for one of the counties or cities in the Southwestern Piedmont, the requirements (duties as shared with the other organizers) are below:
1. Making monthly online meetings
2. Creating and maintaining your city’s CNC project
3. Promoting the CNC in your area including how to best participate and communicating the results of the CNC
4. Completing milestones in a timely manner (based on a timeline given to organizers)
5. Agreeing to guidelines around logo use, talking to media, fundraising, partnerships, etc.

We’ll have our first meeting for new CNC organizers Thursday, September 21, 2023 at 7:00 PM (https://calacademy-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2bIx_zqfIpOas6P9VPwjPWjW0EBz9RXdc8CZKELuTmIjyaWigHTO6IXwd6YngDp79pZmlEerH8empioJNoPgXkrQWPJI9S4atLyf7zxjPGHkcF75btapLlF5nwnUGQMM_Z9wuFpokDrs4hJjfAT7Q49K0XBcQGGQ_1O5AwdUF2Iifg3F9bEDuih_QCk5laYLLechMrr4DqBdQ). All are welcome.  Planning meetings with all organizers (new and returning) will start in October, 2023. If you miss the meeting or just want more information feel free to contact me at ntboaz@earthlink.net to get involved.