City Nature Challenge – April 25-28, 2025
Help Document Memphis’s Biodiversity!
City Nature Challenge is a friendly international competition to see which cities can document the most wildlife in a single weekend. We are excited to showcase Memphis and highlight our wildlife diversity.
Use the free community scientist platform iNaturalist on either your phone or a computer and upload photos of any wildlife you see. This includes plants mushrooms, insects, and beyond! Not sure what that plant or cool insect is? iNaturalist will make suggestions based on your photos, and a community of naturalists will help double check!
Our iNaturalist project page will automatically capture all observations made in Shelby County between April 25-28.
You can join the project to follow our progress in real time. Between April 29 and May 4, local naturalists will work to identify all these organisms, so we can see our rich biodiversity. The results of the challenge will be announced on May 5, and we’ll see how Memphis ranked!
Start by downloading the free iNaturalist app from your app store, or bookmark inaturalist.org if you prefer to use a computer. Any observations you submit between April 25 and 28 will count toward the challenge. Not sure how to use iNaturalist? Check out this Getting Started guide.
Our local partners have set up lots of ways for you to participate as part of a community! Check out the list of events below.
Friday, April 25
Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park: Identification Paddle on Eagle Lake – 9:30am-11:30am
Join State Park Rangers on Eagle Lake to discover and document some of our local water biodiversity. Sold Out.
Saturday, April 26
Overton Park: Guided bird walk – 8am
In this Songbird Stroll, we’ll teach you how to use iNaturalist to document birds by song. You can also bring a camera to take photographs that can be uploaded to iNaturalist at home. BYO binoculars or borrow ours! Meet at the East Parkway Pavilion (389 E Parkway N).
Overton Park: Guided walks in the Old Forest – Hourly starting from 9am-11am
Join our naturalist-led group walks to identify insects, fungi, plants, and trees. Good for beginners or advanced learners! Register here!
Wolf River at Epping Way: Earth Day Guided Walk – 10:00am-12:00pm
Join the Wolf River Conservancy for Earth Day on the Wolf River Greenway. The Earth Day celebration will include service opportunities, a guided walk, paddling and more. Learn more and register here.
Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park: Identification Paddle on Poplar Tree Lake – 1-3pm
Paddle with State Park Rangers on Poplar Tree Lake to discover and document some of our local biodiversity. Book your adventure here.
Sunday, April 27
Nonconnah Greenbelt Park: Guided Field Trip – 1pm-3pm
Learn and record your observations with Nonconnah Creek Conservancy in this ~2 mile guided walk. Close-toed shoes and long pants highly recommended. Map link here.
Monday, April 27
Get outside in your neighborhood: Go out to your local greenspace – a backyard, garden, school yard, greenline, or wherever else outside – a document what you see there. You may be surprised to know the amazing diversity of wildlife among us!
Questions? Check out the FAQs in English and Spanish!
City Nature Challenge is organized by the Community Science Teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
