The Greater Montreal City
Nature Challenge is back!

More than 32 municipalities and boroughs will participate in the community-science initiative

April 24, 2023

For the second consecutive year, Technoparc Oiseaux and the Campus Biodiversity Network are proud to be organizing the City Nature Challenge for Greater Montreal (CMM). This year, more than 32 municipalities and boroughs will participate in the community-science initiative.

Red fox – Image: courtesy of Pincourt Vert

The City Nature Challenge is a friendly competition between over 400 cities across the world with the aim of documenting local biodiversity. The upcoming challenge will take place over four days, from Friday, April 28 to Monday, May 1, 2023. To participate, all that’s required is to download the free, non-commercial application iNaturalist on your Smartphone to take photographs of local plants and wildlife during the four days. (Alternatively, photographs can be taken separately over the four days and then uploaded directly to iNaturalist.ca by May 7.)

Citizen science is crucial for the scientific community. Indeed, each observation, whether it be of the most threatened butterfly or the most common backyard plant, helps contribute to increasing our knowledge of biodiversity. Findings are shared with databases such as NatureServe Canada, Canadensys and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help researchers study and document identified species. By studying the species present in each city, policymakers can be encouraged to better protect them. The City Nature Challenge provides an effective means for scientists and everyday citizens to work together for the common good, all thanks to the compilation of biodiversity observations.

Wildflowers by brook – Image: Deanne Delaney

In 2022, 6868 observations were recorded in 24 municipalities of the Greater Montreal Metropolitan Area, enabling Montreal to reach second place in Canada and 21st place in the world.

For those who will be on the island of Montreal on Saturday, April 29, Technoparc Oiseaux is organizing a bioblitz in the Technoparc sector (borough of Saint-Laurent) at the intersection of Marie-Curie and Alexandre Fleming. The public will be able to visit information kiosks from several organizations, such as Espace pour la vie (Mission Monarch Program), le Nichoir, the Union Québecois pour la réhabilitation des oiseaux de proie, and Ultra Trail Monarch. Guided tours will be available to help people identify different species of trees, plants, birds, insects, and frogs on site. More details can be found at dnumontreal.org and at linktr.ee/definaturemtl

See the Greater Montreal’s City Nature Challenge iNaturalist project here: inaturalist.ca/projects

Feature image: Red-tailed hawk by Redha Yacoubi
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