If you want to contribute to our understanding of the diversity of wild plants and animals in Polk County, the City Nature Challenge is the place to be this weekend.
The effort involves taking photos of flora and fauna in the Polk landscape and posting them on iNaturalist.
If you are new to this iNaturalist is a phone app as well as a website where people can post their photos.
The data-gathering part of the City Nature Challenge runs from Friday through Monday. Participants have until May 4 to post their photos.
Results will be announced May 5
Polk County’s City Nature Challenge is one of only a handful around the state. There are a couple in south Florida, one in Orange County, one in Alachua County, another in northeast Florida and a Florida-Georgia effort that covers a good portion of the Florida Panhandle.
Here are some tips.
The goal is to map biodiversity of wild plants and animals. That means avoiding photos of domestic pets, farm animals, and plants in, your yard unless they are native.
Try to take clear photos and try to crop the photos enough so that the image is identifiable.
If you are not sure what kind of plant or animal you are photographing that’s okay. Make your best guess and post it. There are many helpful people out there who will suggest more accurate IDs, so it is a great chance to learn.
Finally, just get outdoors and have fun.