Thank You, Citizen Scientists!

We’re thrilled that so many citizen scientists came out to observe urban wildlife during the 2018 City Nature Challenge.

Initial reports from the event, which took place April 27-30, showed an impressive increase over preavious years. There were more parks and greenspaces offering events, more species observed, more observations and—most important—more people who felt passionate enough about their urban environment to get involved.

Thank you to student volunteers, faculty, staff and all New Yorkers who participated.

Official tallies will be released in a few weeks, but here are some preliminary fun facts:

• Over 21,000 observations
• 1,381 different species observed
• Only 4 other cities observed more urban wildlife than New Yorkers
• Most observed species: dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
• Most observed mammal: eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Observations will continue to be uploaded for several more days.  Macaulay Honors College is the New York City host of the event. The global City Nature Challenge is organized by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences. For more info and educator resources, and to see official results, visit: www.citynaturechallenge.org