City Nature Challenge 2024: Te Upoko o te Ika (Wellington)s Dagbok

Well done with the record-breaking number of observations for the Wellington region!

While the observing period has now finished, it is still possible to upload any observations made during 26-29 April until 5 May. The earlier observations are uploaded, the better chance they will be identified.

Thank you to our identifiers

On behalf of participants in the Wellington region’s City Nature Challenge, I’d like to thank those who have been identifying our observations. This includes some massive contributions from out-of-towners – thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and helping us engage with the biodiversity of the Wellington region.

Identifying can continue until 5 May.

Identification get-together

For those in town, there is a get-together this Wednesday evening to further boost our identifying. Details here:

City Nature Challenge 2024 Wellington identification blitz

Gather with other nature enthusiasts to identify iNaturalist observations made for the 2024 City Nature Challenge.  Whether you’re an expert or only comfortable distinguishing animals from plants, all levels of identification skills can help the Wellington region document as many species as possible.  This is also a chance to meet in person with other local users of iNaturalist.

Bring your own laptop.

Light snacks will be provided (and feel free to bring your own).

169 Tory Street (Te Papa’s Tory Street building), 5-8 pm, Wednesday 1st May 2024

Contact leon.perrie@tepapa.govt.nz (021 593 350) or lara.shepherd@tepapa.govt.nz beforehand to arrange entry, as building will be locked.

Let us know your highlights

Please share with us any special highlights that you saw, either as an observer or identifier. Perhaps it was a particularly striking photo, or an observation of a rare native species, or a discovery of a previously unknown population (or species!).

You can tag @naturewatchwidow (Lara) or send her a message or favourite the observation. Lara will be writing a Te Papa blog post about the 2024 event along the lines of her post about the 2023 City Nature Challenge.

[
These messages and invitations are open to everyone contributing to the City Nature Challenge, but to help with communication, I’m tagging –
the current top 25 identifiers for the Wellington region’s CNC:
@lloyd_esler @david_lyttle @barbaraparris @clinton @john_barkla @carolwest @naturewatchwidow @liamcassidy @leonperrie @pittosporum @kiwialli @nhudson @tripleaxel @geoffr @williambrockelsby @tony_wills @simonnicholas @pdbellbutler @steve_kerr @mark_smale @kiwi_plays_bongos @chrisclose @sdjbrown @pennywort_man @kate_mcalpine

the current top 100 observers for the Wellington region’s CNC:
@jeanro @naturewatchwidow @wild_wind @chrisclose @svendhansen @berardom @kiwialli @kiwihunter @kiwi_plays_bongos @ecoelijah @leonperrie @henry_id @heidimeudt @rempson @ktbday @gneissnz @carolwest @amanhunt @rasshamra @anita692 @haymay @kate_mcalpine @adam_groenewegen @waynemitchell @esmeraldadoris @nifta @jwhite @corli @dbiaggio @shaun_thompson @emiixam_ @pdbellbutler @andymckay @marleyi @tom_beard @ken_beaney @ellenwgtn @nic_webb @nigel_charman @juliawd @geoffr @pamstapleton @henkels @anniey @jack1309 @lisa_bennett @meltea @sarahmilicich @williambrockelsby @cab1840 @kowhaitreehugger @candler @jonathan369 @dianne_and_gordon_purdie @lottie37 @surfersoph22 @otaritom @elaine52566 @samsotromendo @sarahgoldberg7 @damo15 @zooid @shonam @dougalt @schneehagen @eyemac23 @james595 @divehqwellington @scrutable @kiminwelly @olliek027 @luca_dt @georgia78653 @carofeno @theadoraphyte @dannali @batticus @ecojimmy @clarely @sayurwin @dougalm @bitternsarethebest @tessa_islandbay @ranger006 @maksympolyakov @millarayr @merrin @keen2learn @julialouise1012 @henryahh @judyo1 @peregrinekiwi @robert42956 @rhondabillington @patricklam2 @methnerdp @sprent2121 @hatika @benog @emmatheanalyst @colin_miskelly
fyi julialouise1012 @ngaro @shaun_thompson
]

Kia ora Wellington region,

I'm echoing @julialouise1012 's comment, but well done with our start to the City Nature Challenge 2024! As I write this on Saturday evening, the Wellington region has got a bit of a lead over Christchurch for numbers of observations and species. But, we’ve still got a way to go to match our 2023 efforts, and Christchurch is crafty and not to be underestimated 😊. They often start slowly, and then surge late. For those interested in making LOTS of observations, here are some tips from Christchurch’s Jon S.

By days 3 and 4 of the City Nature Challenge, you might be wondering what remains to be observed. These lists will help with that. They’re everything that’s been observed on iNaturalist in the Wellington region but so far missing from the City Nature Challenge 2024. These lists will update when you refresh or reload their pages.

Insects

Mostly coastal animals

Fungi

Ferns

Monocots

Dicots 1 and Dicots 2

Bryophytes

Seaweeds

Birds

They can take a few seconds to load and are a bit flaky so let me know if anything seems anomalous. And, there’s always the possibility of finding a species never previously observed in our region!

Best wishes for the rest of the Challenge; hopefully you’re able to spend more time outside on Sunday and/or Monday.

(tagging the top 50 observers for CNC 2024 Wellington region)
@naturewatchwidow @chrisclose @ecoelijah @kiwialli @leonperrie @jeanro @svendhansen @heidimeudt @kiwihunter @adam_groenewegen @rempson @berardom @emiixam_ @kate_mcalpine @marleyi @haymay @carolwest @amanhunt @anita692 @nifta @rasshamra @ken_beaney @henry_id @waynemitchell @andymckay @gneissnz @geoffr @ktbday @jwhite @jack1309 @lisa_bennett @kiwi_plays_bongos @corli @williambrockelsby @nigel_charman @otaritom @kowhaitreehugger @juliawd @sarahmilicich @samsotromendo @lottie37 @candler @dianne_and_gordon_purdie @cab1840 @james595 @elaine52566 @olliek027 @sarahgoldberg7 @dbiaggio @kiminwelly

Amazing work from everyone involved and the weather has certainly agreed to play nice. Both events that I've been to over the weekend have had huge attendance - around 40 at Ōtari and I lost count, but possibly 70+ out rock pooling this morning in Island Bay.
Wishing everyone good luck tomorrow whether you're doing you're running an event, helping out at one, or exploring your local area.
There are so many cities taking part in the challenge this year so they've split us into two groups. You can keep track of how we are doing here (currently leading for NZ).
https://inaturalist.nz/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-eurasia-africa-oceania

Keep it up!

The Ghost Diving team is out doing a cleanup by the tugboat at Oriental Bay this Saturday (9:45am-2pm). This involves divers bringing rubbish back to shore where it is 'decrittered' and the animals returned to the sea. It would be great if an iNaturalist user or two could attend to record the animals they recover for the City Nature Challenge. I've been to a previous cleanup and we found octopus, fish and loads of other interesting things! More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/974924640657798?ref=newsfeed
Cheers,
Lara

The City Nature Challenge is nearly here. Let's showcase the biodiversity the Wellington Region has to offer! There are endless options of places to go exploring. From reserves, beaches, to your own backyard or street. Get out and explore this weekend 29 - 29th April.

Come along to these events -

Wed 24th April 5-6pm  
Online iNaturalist Training
https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/environment/biodiversity/getting-involved/city-nature-challenge-2024/events/

Friday 26th April
Bugs ‘n’ Botany 10am-2pm Te Whare Rākau Treehouse, Te Taiao, Level 2 Bugs ‘n’ Botany | Te Papa
https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/events/bugs-n-botany

Vic Uni Bioblitz 12-2pm Meet at the Tuatara Exhibit in Te Toki-a-Rata building. Kelburn Campus 

Ōtari Night Exploration 5-7.30pm
https://fb.me/e/54G6MZXkk

Sat 27th April

Kapiti Coast District Council Mini – Bioblitz 10am-12pm -
https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/environment/biodiversity/getting-involved/city-nature-challenge-2024/events/

Taputeranga Rock Pooling 10am-12pm
https://fb.me/e/1ACHR2vcI

Sunday 28th April

Ōtari Guided Exploration, 10am-12pm

https://fb.me/e/4onYlcqkb

Karori Skyline and Discovery Day, 11am-2pm

https://fb.me/e/1NuvATrMf

Mt Vic Nature walk with Mt Victoria Bush Regeneration Group, 12-1pm, meet at the top of Marjoribanks St (Come along from 10am if you’d like to warm up with some weeding).
https://fb.me/e/32yk2cAY4

Nature Safari with Cashmere Reserve Restoration Project team, Cashmere Park Dog Exercise Area (opp. 19 Onslow Rd) 2-4pm

Fungi Guided Exploration, Trelissick Park 2-4pm
https://fb.me/e/6BeONO1sQ

Wed 1st May

City Nature Challenge 2024 Wellington identification blitz

Gather with other nature enthusiasts to identify iNaturalist observations made for the 2024 City Nature Challenge.  Whether you’re an expert or only comfortable distinguishing animals from plants, all levels of identification skills can help the Wellington region document as many species as possible.  This is also a chance to meet in person with other local users of iNaturalist.

Bring your own laptop.

Light snacks will be provided (and feel free to bring your own).

169 Tory Street (Te Papa’s Tory Street building), 5-8 pm, Wednesday 1st May 2024

Contact leon.perrie@tepapa.govt.nz (021 593 350) or lara.shepherd@tepapa.govt.nz beforehand to arrange entry, as building will be locked.

A message from @kate_mcalpine ......

Kia ora fellow iNaturalist enthusiasts and citizen scientists. Kate McAlpine here, weed ecologist at DOC. I’m currently working with Nigel Charman to develop a smart weed alert tool (SWAT) to improve our ability to detect new weed infestations early. SWAT will be open source and freely available, and you’ll be able to tailor weed alerts to your specific criteria. iNaturalist will be one of the major sources of data that feeds into SWAT.

So – as you’re going about your excellent business making iNaturalist observations in the City Nature Challenge for 2024 this coming weekend (26-29 April), please include weeds on your hit list – even the common things. The more data points we have for weeds (actually - any exotic plants in the wild), the more effective SWAT will be. The city that records the most exotic plant records will win the highly prestigious ‘Weedy Wonderland’ title for 2024. Happy hunting! 😊

We hope you're all excited and getting ready for this year's City Nature Challenge! Today we had Tim Park and Nigel Charman do some really informative online iNaturalist training where they showed us how to use iNaturalist, the benefits, and how to make a project for a reserve. If you'd like a copy of the recording, please email me - julia.baldwin@wcc.govt.nz

We are also excited to share that there is going to be a film made about this challenge.

Here the Wild Things Are is a fun wildlife short documentary set in the city streets you know so well! The film tracks New Zealand’s progress throughout the challenge, follows contestants in Wellington and Christchurch in their quest to discover nature hiding in plain sight and examines whether simply paying attention to our surroundings and taking a photograph can contribute to saving the planet.

The team, consisting of award-winning producers, have been partially funded through the critically acclaimed, short documentary platform, Loading Docs. But they need to raise an additional $8,000 to capture the full scope of the competition in two different cities across the country. They’re going ahead with filming while their crowdfunding campaign is still live, so they’re taking a bit of a financial risk and hoping it pays off! If you can financially contribute to this campaign, any amount will make a significant difference, but sharing it with your friends and whānau will be a huge help too.

For more information, head to their Boosted page: https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/here-the-wild-things-are/

Kia ora koutou,

The 2024 City Nature Challenge is on Friday 26 April to Monday 29 April, inclusive. The boundary for Wellington this year is the area of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, meaning it also takes in Kāpiti Coast and Wairarapa.

Please join the 2024 Wellington project for more information and updates. (Rest-assured that any observations made within the region on those dates will count towards the City Nature Challenge, regardless of whether the observer is part of the project.)

The councils and other organisations will be running public events during the City Nature Challenge – stay tuned for more details.

Some of us will be participating in those events, and some will be doing their own exploring. Some of us like to observe by ourselves, but if you’d like to hear what others are planning and perhaps meet-up, please leave a message below about your availability during the City Nature Challenge and any plans that you have.

We are thinking about a social gathering before the City Nature Challenge. The current plan is on Saturday 13 April to have dinner at Thorndon’s Sprig and Fern followed by making night-time observations on nearby Te Ahumairangi (aka Tinakori Hill). Te Ahumairangi is steep in places, but interesting. Message me if you’d like to join this.

Additionally, we’re wondering about a Signal or Whatsapp messaging group for sharing plans about iNaturalist for the City Nature Challenge and beyond, as an improvement to tagging people in iNaturalist journal posts. Message me or @svendhansen if that is of interest.

Thanks, @leonperrie and @naturewatchwidow

(Tagging the top c. 60 observers from the 2023 Wellington CNC)
@tony_wills @kiwihunter @ecoelijah @leonperrie @naturewatchwidow @jeanro @svendhansen @chrisclose @amanhunt @peta_mcmillan @nifta @dianne_and_gordon_purdie @ecojimmy @lisa_bennett @heidimeudt @ktbday @pwarren @christopherstephens @sophia_lopez @henkels @schneehagen @kiwialli @kate_mcalpine @gneissnz @adam_groenewegen @debh2023 @lindammead @haymay @dougalt @sunita @shaun_thompson @jwhite @nzembo @bridget_h @bugshroom @benjansss @richard87 @james595 @bexinawalowalo @carolwest @berardom @tessa_islandbay @pamstapleton @ellenwgtn @colin_miskelly @dbiaggio @rosanna75 @russelleo @nigel_charman @dannali @liammca @tomjmayo @jilljillgoodwin @joe1549 @shoelessgirl @anniey @sharonkiwi13 @michelle517 @jonathan369 @erinaceus @jacobl @candler @kate39

(Tagging the top c. 100 observers from the wider Wellington region from 2021 onwards)
@christopherstephens @benjansss @berardom @joedillon @leonperrie @dr_dj_king @naturewatchwidow @lisa_bennett @svendhansen @schneehagen @andrewmaungakotukutuku @tony_wills @jeanro @amanhunt @mattward @williambrockelsby @jonocrehan @jacog @luca_dt @wild_wind @richardlitt @parkecology @tom_beard @chrisclose @mckee2r @jacobl @rhondabillington @eyrezer @bugshroom @dougalm @ecojimmy @kiwihunter @andymckay @rempson @surfersoph22 @mesoplodon @shaun_thompson @heidimeudt @kiwipom @benknight @erinaceus @grievesone @dianne_and_gordon_purdie @dougalt @rasshamra @nigel_charman @johnvandenhoeven @dannali @ecoelijah @richarddavies1 @rolandwirth @kiwi_plays_bongos @carolwest @cmwb @rubenmita @dolphinonkeys @peta_mcmillan @sunita @tbay @adam_groenewegen @arnim @aline301 @kate_mcalpine @waynemitchell @seahare123 @rogerlatham @linds-nz @robert42956 @ktbday @kate39 @nifta @sheriff_woody_pct @albeer23 @kowhaitreehugger @pwarren @jacksonfrost @candler @mothbrain @pamstapleton @nzric @smpl @caqalai @marcsladenz @michaelmichaelnz @tessa_islandbay @ellenwgtn @henryjmorse @mossy @mattbrownsky @yokosonz @siobhanleachman @andy_wech @tomfeild @deleon14 @vitexlucens @judyo1 @skipperdogman @jwhite @suz_patterson @bridget_h @esmeraldadoris @chrystal1914 @pdbellbutler @jennyfraser @sarahmilicich @zanegillgren @stephen_hartley @britt_fb

@julialouise1012