What's in Store for us This Year? By Devin Reese, @devinreese
As we count down to City Nature Challenge 2024, I’m reliving the excitement of the event a year ago. The challenge is a glorious treasure hunt for living creatures as big as a chestnut oak or small as moss in your sidewalk cracks, as common as an eastern gray squirrel or rare as a Virginia big-eared bat. Once we slow down enough to spot them, we’re hard-pressed to walk outside in any corner of the DC area and not encounter some animals, plants, or fungi.
The nearly 40,000 observations made by people across the DC area last year included almost 3,000 species, a reminder of the biodiversity in this urban but lush landscape. Some of my favorite sightings last year, in City Nature Challenge 2023, were organisms that are common around us, but that we tend not to see unless we’re intentionally looking, like this fledgling killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) taking some of its first steps, or this beebalm flower (Monarda spp). Both were spotted near Middleburg, VA.
Then, there are those organisms that are by nature elusive, that lurk in shadows, crouch in crevices, or shelter under rocks. It takes a bit of persistence and a lot of luck to find those during the City Nature Challenge. Turning over rocks, lying on the ground to get a new perspective, or just sitting still …for a long time brings them to light. My favorites are the secretive turtles.
This napping eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina ssp. carolina) nestled in leaf duff was found near Silver Spring, MD, not far from to a bus stop. This bevy of northern red-bellied cooters (Pseudemys rubriventris) was jostling over basking space on a log near Wheaton Regional Park.
Of course, the introduced species show up during City Nature Challenges too, which provides valuable data to resource managers on their distribution and spread. Introduced species often show up in force, having been released from the predators that would have nabbed them in their regions of origin. Some of the invasive culprits that made an appearance in the 2023 Nature Challenge are the western (European) honey bee (Apis mellifera) that has spread around the world through bee-keeping; and the multifora rose (Rosa multiflora) that was introduced from Asia to the U.S. for soil conservation and has since earned the title of “noxious weed.”
Contrast these species to some native counterparts, such as a sweat bee observed in Huntley Meadows Park. It’s from the Subfamily of bees (Halictinae) native to North America, the original bee pollinators before European honeybees got a foothold. Or a native plant – the swamp rose – (Rosa palustris) in the same genus as the invasive multiflora rose. The native species tend to have higher ecological value in their habitats where they coevolved in relationships alongside other native species.
You’ll also find species that are just plain weird! You shoot a photo of them, load it up, and wait …for others to identify them. Thanks to the millions of people with iNaturalist accounts, even the strangest organisms are eventually identified, such as these from the 2023 challenge: a fungus that looks like a bunch of wilted carrots, juniper-apple rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae); a fly that looks like a character in a James Bond movie, common snipe fly (Rhagio mystaceus); and the flamboyantly iridescent six-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata).
So, get out there for the City Nature Challenge 2024: Washington DC Metro Area. It’s coming up fast. And lots of critters will be out and about. And there are always the spectacular sightings of native species that have become so rare that every data point is a beacon of hope.
You can see all of the 2023 observations HERE!
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