Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge Southern Africa 2023

Well done everyone. Especially well done Cape Town.

Now to finish uploading, and let the Americas finish their data collection.
But for now some well-earned rest.

And then we can start identification.

If you are desperate to get going then perhaps start here:

We need to clear the Unknowns for starters
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=any&iconic_taxa=unknown&order_by=random&project_id=city-nature-challenge-southern-africa-2023
Please only identify those that you know to family or finer level. Dont waste your time with "Plants" - you need to get it to grasses, or proteas, or peas, or daisies. Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, Insects, Spiders and such are perfectly fine. As is fungus or lichen. Go as detailed as you can, but at this stage just push them as fast as you can to a low level: dont worry with the field guides at this stage. We will come to those in a day or two.

Please everyone help. If you want to focus first on your city, then add your city to the filter box.

Dont forget to FAVE any exciting observation that you come across

It is time for Identifications. Please everyone help.

Our current status is:

• 23.9% Research Grade
• 8.1% Casual
• 68% Needs ID - 63,919 observation need identification, of which
• * 21,023 dont have any ID at all.

Most Urgent - anyone can help

We need to clear the Unknowns for starters
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=any&iconic_taxa=unknown&order_by=random&project_id=city-nature-challenge-southern-africa-2023

Please only identify those that you know to family or finer level. Dont waste your time with "Plants" - you need to get it to grasses, proteas, peas, daisies or a similar level to be helpful for the specialists. Just skip those you dont know, others will help with those. For animals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects or snails will be perfect to get it to the experts.

Calling our Specialists

It is time for the specialists to start helping. If you know any particular group well, please help out, even just to genus is fine.
Note that these are across all cities. If you want to restrict your regions, use the filters and add in the province or magisterial district to the filters. Alternative for the Cape Flora, you can use "Greater Cape Floristic Region" in the place.
Use this and add your taxon (family, tribe, genus) in the species box
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?verifiable=any&project_id=154461&hrank=order&place_id=any

Specific Plant groups (# are observations needing ID):

• 5100 Daisies help ID Asteraceae here
• 1700 Peas help ID Fabaceae here
• 1500 Proteas help ID Proteaceae here
• 1330 Heaths help ID Ericaceae here
• 1050 Grasses help ID Poaceae here
• 830 Asparagus help ID Asparagaceae here
• 850 Capereeds help ID Restionaceae here
• 800 Vygies help ID Aizoaceae here
• 700 Asphodels help ID Asphodelaceae here
• 650 Mints help ID Lamiaceae here
• 630 Irises help ID Iridaceae here
• 430 Sedges help ID Cyperaceae here
• 400 Hardleaves help ID Rhamnaceae here
• 400 Roses, Caperoses, Brambles help ID Rosaceae here
• 400 Stonecrops help ID Crassulaceae here
• 350 Scroffs help ID Scrophulariaceae here
• 250 Pellies help ID Geraniaceae here
• 250 Falsepeas help ID Polygalaceae here

Animal Groups:

• 350 birds help ID them here
• 300 mammals help ID them here
• 200 fish help ID them (mostly marine) here
• 160 herps help ID them here
• 5100 Insects help ID them here
• 1200 Arachnids help ID them here
• 840 Snails help ID them (mostly marine) here
• 2300 Fungu help ID them here

MARINE

(note most cities east of Garden Route do not have a marine place to add to the list. )
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=138786%2C188697%2C188512%2C188511%2C188806&project_id=154461
this should also work for South Africa - but will exclude the shore:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=176675&project_id=154461

Identification Curation Tool

A quick 2 minute referesher tutorial can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/246153496

Please remember when doing identifications.

• FAVE any observation that is outstanding in any way.
  Rather fave too many than too few!

• Mark PLANTED any plants or captive animals that you encounter, even if you do not identify them. But if you can add a family (at least) level ID.
  (Cape Town seems to be drowning in these!! We need to weed these out - we want people to go out of their gardens into the veld and nature reserves).

• Add helpful comments for observations - some copy/biolerplate is available below - please feel free to copy-paste them (or create your own) on the observations.
  .- without pictures
  .- with more than one species per observation (mark them as life)
  .- duplicates (where one specimen is spread over several observations - it is OK to post different individuals separately, but please dont encourage this except for rarer animals)

Good luck with the identifications. By now your uploads should be done. So please assist with the IDs ::

only 80 more hours left for identifications

City based IDs. Proportion of Research Grade Observations. as of 10pm 7 May

(Please help the lower cities achieve our goal of at least 50%)

82% RG Kigali City
80% IDEAL
66% two-thirds
61% RG Joburg
61% RG KZN South Coast
60% RG Waterberg
54% RG Zululand
51% RG Northern Botswana
50% half
48% RG 11,418 Garden Route
47% RG Botswana South
43% RG Makgeng
40% RG eThekwini
40% RG Overstrand
39% RG Mbabane (Hhohho)
Global: 38.1%
38% RG Pietermaritzburg
37% RG Tshwane
Southern Africa: 35.7%
33% third
33% RG Cape Town
33% RG Weskus
33% RG iLembe
31% RG Lubombo
31% RG Overberg
28% RG Nelspruit
25% quarter
23% RG Nelson Mandela Bay
22% RG Maputo
20% RG Gaborone & SE
15% RG Nairobi
15% RG Bloemfontein
11% RG Buffalo City
11% RG Potchefstroom
10% RG Botswana Central
10%
7% RG Thohoyandou
5% RG Pondoland

See Family/Group summaries here: https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/79380-identification-time

With identifications going at a snails pace - it seems that the smaller cities have given up!! it is time to change our strategy.
Please rope in everyone to help: we have a HUGE backlog.

In these final stages, we need to turn our emphasis to

1. - finding species not yet identified.
2. - getting observations to research grade.

Finding New Species

For this you will need to know a particular group reasonably well.
First see what has been recorded:
click here and put your group (genus or Family) in the species filter box.
Then try and find unrecorded species here:
click here and put your group in the species box.
Note:

• click fave if the observation is good
• click captive/planted if they are
• agree to any correct identifications.
• cherry pick identifications and move on. If you are skipping lots, then click the "Mark all as reviewed" option so that you wont see them again [dont do this if you mean to ID them after the CNC].
• Add your city in the place box if you want to do your area first.

Getting Observations to Research Grade

For this you will need some knowledge of particular group.
Open the identified observations:
click here and put your group in the species filter box.

• Agree to those that you can recognize
• If uncertain, use the "Suggestions" tab to check before agreeing or posting an alternative ID.
• click fave if the observation is good
• click captive/planted if they are
• skip over unclear observations. If you are skipping lots, then click the "Mark all as reviewed" option so that you wont see them again
• Add your city in the place box if you want to do your area first.

Helping with Unidentified Observations

Please help get unidentified observations to our specialist groups by making an ID to family level or lower in plants, and any level for animals. For Fungi, simply use Fungi or Lichens as options.
click here and get going.

• click captive/planted if they are planted, in pots, or captive - unless they are unusual (in which case name them), skip the IDs.
• make your ID to family or group.
• click fave if the observation is good
• skip over observations that you do not know. If you are skipping lots, then click the "Mark all as reviewed" option so that you wont see them again

Garden Plants

If your speciality is garden plants, and you cannot really help with wild ones, then please help us here:
Unknown - help here
Further ID needed: help here and put your special group in the species filter box

PROGRESS SUMMARY

Summary for southern Africa is here: - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-southern-africa-2023/journal/79380-identification-time
Please see your own city project for special instructions from your coordinators.

Let us see what we can do to reducing this backlog of identifications. What should our target be 50%? 66%? 80% - how is your city doing?

The placings are now posted: see them here:
https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/live

Thank you to everyone who took part: the observers, the identifiers, the coordinators, and the organizers. Those who went to exciting places, and those who stayed at home. Those who organized bioblitzes, outings, events, diving, climbing, walking, and crawling. Those who helped with IDs, and the support teams who kept the chips, dips, and beer coming. We hope that you enjoyed the event.

Any thoughts or ideas? Please post them in the comments below. How to improve the event. Should we skip it every second year? Should we show the world what we can do? What we dipped out on. Your highlights - please feel free to tell us about them.

And please don't forget that each city should be looking to its best observations, greatest pictures, core observers, and other contributors.

Take the time to have a look at the faves for each city, and vote for the best observations of 2023 CNC.
To vote, just click on the observation to open it, and under the map on the right, click on "Faves" VOTE NOW

• Cape Town: faves

• eThekwini faves
  .

• Overstrand faves
• Garden Route faves
• Overberg faves

• Weskus faves
  .

• Nelson Mandela Bay faves
• Joburg faves
• Thohoyandou faves

• Tshwane faves
  .

• Botswana Central faves
• Bloemfontein faves
• Buffalo City faves

• Potchefstroom faves
  .

• KZN South Coast faves
• Makgeng faves
• Zululand faves

• Gaborone & SE faves
  .

• Pietermaritzburg faves
• Lubombo faves
• Mbabane (Hhohho) faves

• Nelspruit faves
  .

• Waterberg faves
• Nairobi faves
• Pondoland faves

• Botswana South faves
  .

• Maputo City faves
• Northern Botswana faves
• iLembe faves
• Kigali City faves

The final results are:

Here are the collective results:
Observations: 1,870,763
Species: 57,227+, including more than 2,570 rare/endangered/threatened species
Observers: 66,394
Most-observed species globally: Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos)

And congratulations to our “top” cities:

Observations:

1. La Paz, Bolivia: 126,435
2. Cape Town, South Africa: 52,518
3. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, USA: 48,021
4. Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico: 42,479
5. Houston-Galveston, Texas, USA: 41,736

Species:

1. La Paz, Bolivia: 5,344
2. Hong Kong, SAR, China: 4,469
3. Cosalá, Sinaloa, Mexico: 3,912
4. Cape Town, South Africa: 3,847
5. Houston-Galveston, Texas, USA: 3,707

Observers:

1. La Paz, Bolivia: 3,025
2. San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA: 2,488
3. Los Angeles County, California, USA: 1,671
4. Monterrey Zona Metropolitana, Mexico: 1,655
5. Washington DC Metro Area, USA: 1,527

Note that the figures and positions at https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/live are ongoing and reflect the current status, and not the situation at the end of the challenge. These will continue to change with time.

CNC2023 has concluded and the results confirmed.
We still looking for support with identifications, every contribution helps, while acknowledging that some observations can't be further identified.

Priority is to clear the 5 500 observations in the Unknown category: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=unknown&project_id=154461

a whopping 36 0000 Plant observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Plantae&project_id=154461

6300 Insect observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Insecta&project_id=154461

3500 Fungi and Lichen observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Fungi&project_id=154461

1500 Arachnid observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Arachnida&project_id=154461

868 Mollusks observations:https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Actinopterygii&project_id=154461

418 Mammal observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Mammalia&project_id=154461

403 Bird observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Aves&project_id=154461

129 fish observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Actinopterygii&project_id=154461

52 Reptile observations require ID: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Reptilia&project_id=154461

41 Amphibian observations require ID: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=Amphibia&project_id=154461

The best observation for CNC2023 southern Africa comes from the City of Tshwane.
Congratulations to @tjeerddw for submitting the observation of the Southern Serval

Looking at each City's favourite observation, listed as per CNC 2023 Southern African leaderboard:

Cape Town a tie between South African Mantis contributed by @hhodgson and Sand Rain Frog contributed by @siziphiwexego

eThekwini Crab spider contributed by @suncana

Overstrand Puff Adder contributed by @thyme5way12

Garden Route Common slug-eater contributed by @skye87

Overberg Southern Baboon spider contributed by @erickmunro

Weskus Prostigs family spider contributed by @cecileroux

Nelson Mandela Bay Villa vitripennis insect contributed by @mariedelport

Joburg Potatoe Lady Beetle contributed by @allanweideman10

Thohoyandou Leucauge levanderi spider contributed by @thanzi

Tshwane Apart from the Southern Serval, the 2nd most favourite observation is the Golden Eye Lichen contributed by @lezanne_rossouw

Botswana central Yellow-veined Widow contributed by @botswanabugs

Bloemfontein Konrad's Broad-headed Jumping Spider contributed by @hrodulf

Buffalo City Crassula perfoliata contributed by @vats

Potchefstroom Singlespine River Crab contributed by @anje

KZN South Coast a tie between Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat contributed by @bushboy and Whitebar Acraea butterfly contributed by @timmcclurg

Makgeng Euphorbia pulvinata contributed by @simon_attwood

Zululand a tie between Pink-mouth Egg Cowry marine mollusk contributed by @aspearton and South African Giraffe contributed by @magdastlucia

Gaborone & SE Genus Bucculatrix moth contributed by @tuli-2

Pietermaritzburg Dry-leaf Commodore butterfly contributed by @callas_gunther_kahlert

Lubombo Dragon-headed Caterpillars contributed by @ardy3

Mbabane-Hhohho Blesbok contributed by @katebraunsd

Nelspruit Eulophia horsfallii contributed by @heinrichhuman

Waterberg Speckled Rock Skink contributed by @jaheymans

Nairobi Rat-tail Maggot Fly contributed by @batili419

Pondoland Mountain Malachite damselfly contributed by @phindile2

Botswana South a tie between Threeband Slugs and Eastern Dotted Border catepillar both contributed by @matewe

Maputo City Reed Frog contributed by @alvaro_albino

Northern Botswana a tie between Southern Red-billed Hornbill contributed by @anthony1764 and Eastern Scarlet butterfly contributed by @robert_taylor

iLembe Lesser Fig-tree Blue butterfly contributed by @nadiafunke

Kigali City Eletica Blister Beetle contributed by @loisposey

A hearty congrats to all the observers for the fantastic observations and huge thanks to all who have taken the time to vote for their favourite observation of the Challenge.

Surprisingly, most observations made were of plants yet very few were the City's favourite observations!

While we understand that a proportion of observations are not of good photo quality to ascertain identification to species level, with time those keen on surveys can only improve their photography skills. We encourage our identifiers to share tips and tricks for their respective taxon groups as well as produce videos and crib notes that we share via our YouTube channel.

Our participation in CNC annually brings much fun being in nature, while feeding foundational biodiversity data to our national datasets, especially that of endemic, threatened, and protected species.
More importantly, CNC data is being analyzed by local government agencies responsible for managing and reporting on biodiversity at the municipal scale.

The South African Red List Plants and Animals Project produced 551 Threatened species
497 Plant species
34 Bird species
17 Mammal species
5 Reptile species
4 Amphibian species
4 Ray finned fish species

Note that these are records as per the South African Red List Plants and Animals Project which does not have all taxonomic groups listed.

The Arachnid expert has kindly shared the list of Protected Species recorded ID'd thus far:
Baboon spiders genera (Harpactira, Ceratogyrus, Pterinochilus, and some others)
Some scorpion genera (Opistophthalmus and Opisthacanthus)
See images here

The NEMBA Alien Species South Africa Project produced 245 Invasive species
223 Invasive Plant species
7 Invasive Bird species
5 Invasive Fish species
4 Invasive Insect species
2 Invasive Mammal species
2 Invasive Mollusk species