The nature count needed identifiers as well as cameras
April’s observations became a second task: checking evidence and names.
- Event / announcement date
- 2026-04-24
The April 24–27 City Nature Challenge generated 3,001,825 observations, the California Academy of Sciences reported May 13. Its count records contributed sightings, not a census of every organism living in participating cities. [1]
iNaturalist separated observation days from an April 28–May 10 uploading and identification phase. Its guide favors careful evidence over blurry duplicates and warns that a region-lookup bounding box may extend beyond the project’s actual boundary. [2]
The platform’s quality rules require accurate dates, coordinates and photos or sounds for verifiable observations of wild organisms. Research Grade generally requires species-level agreement from more than two-thirds of identifiers, with documented exceptions. [3]
Quality status can change with community identification. Upload totals do not establish that every record is equally verified. The April event is closed; existing observations can still be checked. [3]
The source
- California Academy of Sciences: Results released ↗
Source date 2026-05-13 · reviewed October 29, 2026 - iNaturalist: Observation and identification phases ↗
Undated reference · reviewed October 29, 2026 · No publication date is given. - iNaturalist: Data quality and Research Grade ↗
Undated reference · reviewed October 29, 2026 · No publication date is given on this reference.
About this item: Retrospective report. No first-hand reporting or independent testing is claimed. Corrections policy.
