2024 City Nature Challenge
The City Nature Challenge is an international effort to document nature in cities, taking place from April 26 to April 29, 2024. The global event calls on current and aspiring community scientists, nature and science fans, and people of all ages and backgrounds to get outside and observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals, and fungi during the Challenge dates in order to help scientists track real-time changes in our planet’s biodiversity and better understand wildlife conservation.
Take Part!
City Nature Challenge is about documenting nature where people live, especially in urban areas. Here’s how to participate in or near your home:
Explore your home or yard
- What can you find in your house?
- What can you see through your windows?
- What are the wild plants growing in your backyard? (weeds count!)
- What insects or other creatures are using the cultivated plants in your backyard as a habitat or a food source?
- What observations can you make along the sidewalk in front of your house or apartment complex? (Always be mindful of traffic and safety.)
- Check out more ideas for exploring nature in and around your home.
Explore your neighborhood
- Take a walk and see what kinds of wildlife share your neighborhood.
- Look up to spot birds sitting in trees or on powerlines and telephone poles.
- Look down to find insects crawling on the pavement or underneath leaves.
- What else might you find?
- Visit your local park. Look in the grass, on plants, under benches and tables, and up in the trees. How many different species will you find?
How to Participate
Download the iNaturalist app from the App Store or Google Play.
Step 1: Find wildlife anywhere in L.A. County (or your local area).
Step 2: Take photos of WILD** plants & animals.
Step 3: Share Your observations in the iNaturalist app. If it's planted or taken care of by people it is not WILD. Mark it captive/cultivated!
Step 4: Learn more as your finds get identified.
**Wild means not captive or cultivated. Try not to take pictures of captive animals in zoos or aquaria and cultivated plants in your garden or at a nursery.
Events
Join us to meet your human and wildlife neighbors in L.A.!
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
Survey with a Scientist
RSVP here
Saturday, April 27, 10 am–12:30 pm
Hosted by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Join tens of thousands of people in the largest bioblitz in the world for the 9th annual City Nature Challenge! Visit the Natural History Museum to find and document urban wildlife and put nature in L.A. on the world map. How? It’s easy! The simple and free iNaturalist app turns your photos into data in a global database of urban biodiversity.
Learn how to use iNaturalist on family-friendly nature exploration walks in the Nature Gardens. Meet community organizations and research scientists who use your photos-turned-data to understand and protect nature for us all. Who are our nature neighbors at the Natural History Museum of L.A. County? We need your help to find out!
- Beginner-friendly and all ages
- Childcare available for iNaturalist training
- Bilingual in Spanish
- Admission and parking included
There’s more to explore! Check out these events hosted by City Nature Challenge L.A. Partners
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
City Nature Challenge: Guided Nature Hike at Rocky Oaks
Friday, April 26, 4–6pm
Hosted by Santa Monica Mountains Fund
Join NPS volunteers and partner staff in a slow-guided hike to focus on collecting iNaturalist observations of your favorite wildlife species.
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
City Nature Challenge: Guided Nature Hike at Rancho Sierra Vista
Saturday, April 27, 9–11am
Hosted by Santa Monica Mountains Fund
Join NPS volunteers and partner staff along active restoration sites to focus on collecting iNaturalist observations of your favorite wildlife species.
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
Bioblitz in the Marsh
Saturday, April 27, 10 am-12 pm
Hosted by Heal the Bay
Join Heal the Bay for an Earth Month Bioblitz to contribute to a global citizen science database!
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
Bioblitz in Fern Dell
Saturday, April 27, 10 am–12 pm
Hosted by Heal the Bay
Join Heal the Bay for an Earth Month Bioblitz to contribute to a global citizen science database!
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
City Nature Challenge: Guided Nature Hike at Paramount Ranch
Sunday, April 28, 9–11am
Hosted by Santa Monica Mountains Fund
Join NPS volunteers and partner staff in a slow-guided hike to focus on collecting iNaturalist observations of your favorite wildlife species
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
Studio City CNC BioBlitz
Sunday, April 28, 10 am
Hosted by Save LA River Open Space
Local Community nature walk focusing on 16 acres of LA River open green space.
IN-PERSON PROGRAM
BioBlitz Nature Stroll
Sunday, April 28, 8–10 am and 10 am–12 pm
Hosted by Nature Nexus Institute
Join the efforts to document biodiversity in Los Angeles as part of the City Nature Challenge! Learn how to be a careful observer, use iNaturalist, and meet some of the amazing plants and wildlife that call Baldwin Hills Parklands home.
8–10 am: Better chance of spotting birds
10 am–12 pm: Lizards and invertebrates should be on the move since it will be a little warmer
RSVP to ecobar@naturenexusinstitute.org for details and to register.
iNaturalist How-To Videos
Adding an Observation on a Mobile Device
Adding an Observation via the Web
How to Take Identifiable Photos
We wish to thank our local partner organizations for their participation in the City Nature Challenge. Partners include the following: Aquarium of the Pacific, Arlington Garden in Pasadena, Audubon Center at Debs Park, California State University, Los Angeles - Department of Geography, Geology, and Environment, County of Los Angeles, Chief Sustainability Office, County of Los Angeles, Department of Parks & Recreation, Friends of the Los Angeles River, Heal the Bay, LA Sanitation & Environment, Latino Outdoors, Los Angeles Public Library, Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center, Nature for All, Nature Nexus Institute, Office of Climate Action & Sustainability, City of Long Beach, Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, Pasadena City College, Rancho Los Cerritos, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains Fund, official partner of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Save LA River Open Space, USDA Forest Service, WLAC California Center for Climate Change Education.
The City Nature Challenge is brought to you by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences.
