Last week we wrote about the City Nature Challenge, a friendly competition started in 2016 between the Natural History Museum of LA County and California Academy of Science to motivate their respective citizen scientists to get out and observe urban wildlife. CNC has grown to more than 300 cities. The observations made by citizen scientists, and recorded using the iNaturalist app, are invaluable to helping scientists gather information from around the world on the state of wildlife in our urban environments.
Citizen Scientist, Hancock Park resident and Buzz reader Linda Sanoff shared some of her observations from a walk she took with a friend this weekend around Lake Hollywood, hoping to make some observations for the Challenge.
An early riser, Sanoff started her walk at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
“We started our walk at Lake Hollywood going clockwise. The first third of the walk only provided us with a bird and the rabbit. When we reached the bridge over the reservoir, things really began to heat up. We saw lots of birds. and on the last quarter of the walk we were amazed to spot deer.”
The Challenge ends tonight ,but there’s still time to post your observations. To date. there are more than 876,000 observations. If you don’t have time to take a walk or hike, here’s a fellow you are likely to see right in your own backyard. This Fox Squirrel was spotted on Saturday afternoon in our backyard.
Initially we tagged it as an Eastern Grey Squirrel but Kayce Bell, Assistant Curator of Terrestrial Mammals at the NHMLA, who researches mammal and parasite diversity, corrected my observation. When I asked how you can tell the two species apart she replied. “That is a great question!” (We love that about NHM staff, they love all questions!)
“The gray squirrels can have some brown on them, but in general, they tend to be really gray,” wrote Bell. The fox squirrels around here are almost always brown or an orange brown. We also aren’t sure if eastern gray squirrels are in LA. There are a few reports of them, but to my knowledge it has not been confirmed. They are very common in the Bay Area and other places on the west coast,” wrote Bell.
The City Nature Challenge may end today but observations are welcome anytime and scientists continue to monitor the app so the learning continues as well.
