2025 City Nature Challenge

BE ADVISED: Due to nearby events on Friday, April 4, parking and traffic around the Natural History Museum will be impacted. Parking for First Fridays is available at the Blue Visitor Parking Structure, located at 39th St and Figueroa St in Exposition Park. Please plan your visit accordingly, and consider using rideshare or public transportation.

Side view of a child looking at leaf through a magnifying glass, against a blurry leafy green background

The City Nature Challenge is an international effort to document nature in cities, taking place from April 25 to April 28, 2025. 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.