2019 City Nature Challenge
presented by
American Spring LIVE
Thanks to everyone who participated in the City Nature Challenge 2019: Omaha Metro. Even though the weather was cool and crisp we finished in fine form. Here are the results:
World Wide
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63,773 Observations
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31,000 Species
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35,126 People Participated
Omaha Metro
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1,896 Observation
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529 Species
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153 People Participated
However, the great news is that Omaha, out of 159 cities world wide, finished #1 in Highest % of Research Grade Species!
The overall Winner of this year's City Nature Challenge 2019 was Cape Town, South Africa with 53,763 Observations and 4,588 species. That will be a tough goal to match for 2020!
Another exciting result is that our top three species in Omaha, NE did not include dandylions! Although our insects were hard to find due to the cool weather, our spring flowers were in bloom.
- Common Blue Violet
- American Robin
- Canada Goose
Thanks again for everyone for helping make this year a exciting time and we can't wait till next year to see what we find in Omaha Metro!
Presenting Sponsors
Spring is one of nature’s greatest performances – a time of rebirth, renewed energy and dramatic transformations. For three consecutive nights, Monday, April 29 – Wednesday, May 1 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) and Facebook, American Spring LIVE presented by NET, Nebraska's PBS Station, will reveal the change from winter to spring in real time from iconic locations across America, including Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.
Omaha STEM Ecosystem is transforming Omaha into a robust STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) community to grow the talent pipeline.
They envision a community where all young people, especially those underrepresented in STEM careers, will have the opportunities needed to be successful in learning, scientific thinking, examining potential career paths and exploring opportunities to extend their educational achievements.
Partners
(Click on logo to access available event pages)
Partner Events
Thanks to all our Partner's for holding events and helping introduce City Nature Challenge 2019 to the community!
Omaha STEM Ecosystem/Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium
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Celebrate Urban Birds Citizen Science Workshop Friday,
April 26 (6:00 pm to 8:00 pm)
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Misson for Monarchs Citizen Science Workshop Saturday,
April 27 (1:00 pm to 3:00 pm)
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Love Your Lilacs Citizen Science Workshop Sunday,
April 28 (1:00 pm to 3:00 pm)
*Docents and Zoo Crew will also be on hand Friday, April 26 thru Sunday, April 28 to show how families can participate in the City Nature Challenge at the Zoo and throughout Omaha.
Omaha Public Power District
Join OPPD on
Saturday, April 27th between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm at the OPPD
Arboretum. There will be a number of community members available to assist with taking and submitting observations to the iNaturalist app including: UNL Extension Entomologists, Drs. Jody Green and Jonathan Larson, Douglas-Sarpy County Extension Master Gardeners, and OPPD Forestry team members.
The Arboretum is an outdoor education area located near 108th and Blondo Street. It was created to help residents understand safety issues assocated with planting trees and shrubs around power lines and other electrical equipment as well as learn about native trees and shrubs.
Omaha Public Library City Nature Challenge: Omaha Metro
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Saddlebrook Branch - Story Time & Family Activity:
Saturday, April 27 (10:30 am -11:30 am)
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Joslyn Castle
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Spring Lecture Series: City Nature Challenge,
Monday, April 29, 2019 (6:30 pm - 8:00 pm)
Fontenelle Forest
Mulhall's & Heron Haven
- Saturday, April 27 (10:00 am - Noon) Join Mulhall's and Heron Haven along with nature experts from across the Omaha community as they look to document Omaha's biodiversity by taking pictures of plants, insects and animals at Heron Haven Wetland Sanctuary. Learn from biologists, entomologists, and other experts including representatives from Heron Haven, Mulhall’s, Creighton University, University of Nebraska Omaha, College of Saint Mary, Nebraska Master Naturalists, Audubon Nebraska, Pheasants Forever, and Papio-Missouri River Natural Resource District.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab & Lauritzen Gardens
The City Nature Challenge is an annual BioBlitz where people across the globe become citizen scientists in a friendly competition with other cities to document their local wildlife. This year, join Nebraska Wildlife Rehab at Lauritzen Gardens as we teach people how to use the iNaturalist app for this event to identify birds, insects, plants, and whatever life we can find. All of this valuable information goes into a database that scientists can use, while you spend the day immersed in nature and learn about our local biodiversity.
Anyone with access to a smart phone can participate, and families can work together to make this a fun outing for everyone. The event is free with paid admission to Lauritzen Gardens, and you can continue using iNaturalist long after the event to contribute as a citizen scientist. Nebraska Wildlife Rehab staff will have an informational booth at Lauritzen Gardens on
Saturday, April 27 from 10am to 3pm to help answer any questions and get people started on their BioBlitz adventure. Make sure to bring a mobile phone or tablet with access to the internet!
City Sprouts and NE SciFest
Sign-Up for an Email Reminder
Sign up now for email reminders before, after, and everywhere in-between! To help remind ourselves about the upcoming challenge, we have started an email list of participants, students, families, individuals, schools, businesses, etc. We will start emailing reminders on Wednesday, 4/24/19, with daily reminders after that to excite and encourage your participation. One final email will be sent out in May to let you know how we did. We can’t do this without you, so please sign-up today!
Send me reminders!
Want to Practice?
Click here for other Citizen Science programs that you can do ahead of time to get ready for CNC2019!
- Backyard Wilderness
- Track-A-Lilac
- Monarch Tagging
- Amphibian Conservation
- Butterfly Conservation
- Salamander Conservation
- SECORE Conservation
FREE WORKSHOPS!
Join Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium during City Nature Challenge 2019: Omaha Metro dates for FREE workshops (with Zoo admission). See below for more details.
- Celebrate Urban Birds: A Citizen Science Program - Do you want to learn about birds in your neighborhood? Want to learn to be able to know the difference between a House Finch and a House Sparrow? Then this is the beginner’s class for you. A Citizen Science program designed with the NEW birder in mind by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Celebrate Urban Birds helps people of all ages learn about birds. This class will help you learn how and where to observe as well as giving you data sheets to complete to help The Cornell Lab of Ornithology data collect in our area.
- Friday, April 26 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Wild Kingdom Pavilion Auditorium
Registration
- Monarch Larva Monitor Project: A Citizen Science Program - Monarchs travel long distances and many people monitor and tag their fall migration but did you know that you can be trained to watch their spring migration too. The Monarch Joint Venture and the University of Minnesota has designed a Citizen Science project that trains volunteers across the United States in monarch butterfly research. The goal of the project is 1) to beter understand how and why the monarch population changes throughout the breeding season and from year to year, and 2) to compare monarch activity between geographci locations throughout North America. In this workshop volunteers will be trained on data collection, habitat description, observations, estimates, monitoring sites, comparing observations, and possibly participating in other monarch activites.
- Saturday, April 27 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Wild Kingdom Pavilion Auditorium
Registration
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Love Your Lilacs: A Citizen Science Program - Do you have Lilacs in your back yard and want to learn how to monitor their spring progress. Data collected will be used to determine differences over the years and help track trends that might be occuring all across the United States. The midwest has a very low reporting number on lilacs and the Omaha Zoo & Aquarium would like to increase the data collected by training the public (Citizen Scientist) throughout Nebraska. If you or someone you know has a lilac bush, this is a class for you.
Want to Participate in a Special Overnight City Nature Challenge Event?
The Zoo has two special overnights where guests can sign up and spend the night and sample plants and animals on Zoo grounds after hours.
Friday, April 26 - Small Group Safari: Scouts, youth groups, and other social groups can come and stay the night and sample the biodiversity of the Zoo's native species. Guests will be trained on iNaturalist and sampling techniques and then be allowed to sample plants and animals using iNaturalist for the City Nature Challenge 2019 : Omaha Metro. Cost is $45 per person and include Zoo admission, overnight stay in the Scott Aquarium, evening hike, evening snack and morning hike.
Saturday, April 27 - Family Group Safari: Families can come and stay the night and sample the biodiversity of the Zoo's native species. Families will be trained on iNaturalist and sampling techniques and then be allowed to sample plants and animals using iNaturalist for the City Nature Challenge 2019 : Omaha Metro. Cost is $55 per person and include Zoo admission, overnight stay in the Scott Aquarium, evening hike, evening snack, morning hike, breakfast, and a visit from Animal Ambassador.
Registration
Participant Toolkit
Whether you're a participant looking to go about the city in search of wildlife or are an organization wanting to host a City Nature Challenge-based event or simply encourage the community to visit your location in search of unique species, here are some helpful resources to get you started.
If you have any questions or are an organization interested in hosting a City Nature Challenge-based event, please contact Pamela Eby in the Education Department at (402) 738-2049 or pamela.eby@OmahaZoo.com. The Zoo can help promote your City Nature Challenge event by adding it to this webpage.