By Diana Moy, Franklin Mountains State Park

Have you ever wondered how many species of plants or animals can be found in our city (or any location for that matter)? Or maybe you have come across a plant or animal you have not seen before and would like to know what it is? This happens to me all the time and I often find myself wondering how many species of this or that call our city home. If you are like me, I have good news for you (and even an event invitation)!

Let me introduce you to iNaturalist, an app where you upload photos, videos, or sounds of plants or animals that you encounter and use the database of observations to identify what you saw, it also keeps a list of all your observations, let’s you see other people’s observations and even compare them, and allows you to chat with other users about your observations. Not a fan of applications on your phone? They have a web page if you prefer that. I think it is a super cool app that everyone should know about and use year-around, but that is not the only reason I am sharing this today; I am also sharing this because it is almost time for City Nature Challenge 2025.

If you haven’t heard about City Nature Challenge let me tell you all about it! It is a friendly competition between cities around the globe to see which city can record the most observations of nature; it started 10 years ago as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco and has now become a world-wide event. When I discovered this challenge a few years ago I visited mostly my local parks (because that is where wildlife is), took a whole bunch of photos but then procrastinated (as one does) on uploading a good chunk of my photos and missed the deadline. The next year I had this plan to go out every day to my local state parks and get all these photos to upload, but then life (or should I say adulting) got in the way and I didn’t get to spend as much time as I had planned to explore the parks. Then the next year came and it was time for the challenge again! This time I was out in my garden thinking of what my plan or approach was going to be this time around when I noticed the birds that visit the feeders, and it hit me! Wildlife is all around us! I don’t have to make it far to a wilderness area every day; I can also find wild plants and animals around me, from the little aphid or lady bug on the mountain laurel in my yard, to the inca doves eating the seed that fall to the ground from the bird feeders, or even the moths flying around the neighborhood lights when I walk my dogs in the evening. This was a game changer, and I look forward to each year’s City Nature Challenge with a more laxed approach. I don’t make a plan anymore; I just go through my day with my phone or camera on hand (as we all do these days) ready to snap a pic of whatever life form comes across me. So this year, whether it is your first time hearing about this challenge or if you are a repeat participant, I want to invite you to observe what is around you, take a photo, and upload it to iNaturalist and help our city come up on top for City Nature Challenge 2025. This year the challenge is from April 25^th to April 28^th to observe wildlife and record your observations and April 29^th to May 4^th to identify observation, but don’t stress! Remember that iNaturalist helps you identify your observations and there is a big community that will help through the app as well.

 If you want to learn more about it visit our website and/or follow our social media accounts.

Looking forward to seeing all your observations on iNaturalist!

Website: http://www.insightselpaso.org/city-nature-challenge-el-paso

Facebook @ City Nature Challenge El Paso

Instagram @cnc_ep

Photo credits:
Cover – Cactus, Diana Moy
Feature – spider – Diana Moy
Banner with hawk – Cesar Mendez
Top – frog, Rick LoBello