2022 Denver-Boulder City Nature Challenge results are in!

Every spring the City Nature Challenge provides city-dwelling naturalists with the opportunity to observe and document the wildlife around us. For three days from the end of April into early May, folks hop on iNaturalist and document what they see. From the early season weeds and flowering trees to the ants, squirrels and birds in our neighborhoods and natural areas, we received a wide variety of observations during this year’s challenge. 

The City Nature Challenge is a global event organized through the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Globally 2022 saw 445 cities spanning 47 countries participate. The 67,200 global observers documented more than 50,000 species in 1.7 million observations. Astounding numbers for just the 7th year of the project. 

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s City Nature Challenge. As the Denver-Boulder metro community we made more 3000 observations of more than 600 species. The organizing committee led by Denver Botanic Gardens then combed through the observations and selected our favorites in categories ranging from best mammal photo, to most colorful. 

We are already looking forward to the 2023 City Nature Challenge and hope many of you will participate.