City Nature Challenge 2023 Results

15,582
Observations Made

#25 in the world (out of 482)
#12 in the USA (out of 128)

2,343
Species Documented

#21 in the world
#10 in the USA

360
People Participated

#45 in the world
#30 in the USA

View the Baton Rouge City Nature Challenge project and observations in iNaturalist.

We beat our number of observations record, and did very well for species and participants considering we were not counting eBird data this year. (Last year, we participated in a beta test of an aggregator that allowed us to include eBird and iNaturalist results, however, the aggregator was not adopted.)

If you account for population density, Asheville, Baton Rouge, and Albuquerque would be the top 3 in the U.S.!

Most Observed Species

Overall

  1. White Clover, 102 observations

  2. Baldcypress, 96

  3. Southern Magnolia, 95

  4. Bristle Thistle, 86

  5. Eastern Gray Squirrel, 85

Eastern Gray Squirrel by sbarks5; Green Frog by terrapinjoe; Pond Slider by muchio.

Mammals

  1. Eastern Gray Squirrel

  2. Common Raccoon

  3. Swamp Rabbit

  4. White-tailed Deer

  5. Virginia Opossum

Amphibians

  1. Green Frog

  2. Green Treefrog

  3. Squirrel Treefrog

  4. Cope’s Gray Treefrog

  5. Southern Cricket Frog

Reptiles

  1. Pond Slider

  2. Green Anole

  3. Banded Watersnake

  4. Western Ribbon Snake

  5. American Alligator

 

Pearl Crescent by miketilley; Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth by alice2019; Great Blue Skimmer by cbraud51.

Butterflies

  1. Pearl Crescent

  2. Common Buckeye

  3. American Snout

  4. Monarch

  5. Black Swallowtail

Moths

  1. Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth

  2. Buck Moth

  3. Isabella Tiger Moth

  4. Dot-lined Wave

  5. White-marked Tussock

Other Arthropods

  1. Great Blue Skimmer

  2. Asian Lady Beetle

  3. Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

  4. Eastern Pondhawk

  5. Western Honeybee

 

Baldcypress by bill_wimley; Virginia Creeper by jgbecnel; White Clover by gstroop10373.

Trees

  1. Baldcypress

  2. Southern Magnolia

  3. American Sweetgum

  4. Chinese Tallow

  5. Southern Live Oak

Plants

  1. White Clover

  2. Bristle Thistle

  3. Largeflower Pink-Sorrel

  4. Dwarf Palmetto

  5. Lizard’s Tail

Vines

  1. Virginia Creeper

  2. Eastern Poison Ivy

  3. Muscadine

  4. American Trumpet Vine

  5. Japanese Climbing Fern

 

Northern Cardinal by kjsalathe; Western Mosquitofish by kpinso; Ringless Honey Mushrooms by miketilley.

Birds

  1. Northern Cardinal

  2. Northern Mockingbird

  3. Mallard Duck

  4. Red-winged Blackbird

  5. Carolina Wren

Fish

  1. Western Mosquitofish

  2. Bluegill

  3. Sailfin Molly

  4. Green Sunfish

  5. Spotted Gar

Fungi & Lichens

  1. Ringless Honey

  2. Christmas Lichen

  3. Fringed Sawgill

  4. Latte Bracket

  5. Candlesnuff

 

Common Grackle by ncb1221; Green Ash by khashagen; American Alligator by janie.

Threatened Birds

  1. Common Grackle

  2. Bald Eagle

  3. Eastern Meadowlark

  4. Osprey

  5. Chimney Swift

Threatened Plants

  1. Green Ash

  2. American Elm

  3. Pale Pitcher Plant

  4. Longleaf Pine

  5. Carolina Ash

Threatened Other Animals

  1. American Alligator

  2. Common Box Turtle

  3. American Bumblebee

  4. Hairy-headed Acrobat Ant

  5. Georgia Satyr Butterfly

 

Leaderboard

Katrina Hashagen

 
 

Thank you to our participants, volunteers, partners and identifiers!

Most Observations

747 Katrina Hashagen
631 Brandon Johnson
564 Tracey Allen
552 Janie Braud
412 Amber King

Most Species

449 Katrina Hashagen
313 Brandon Johnson
305 Amber King
292 Tracey Allen
258 Janie Braud

Most Identifications

2,556 Katrina Hashagen
1,307 Brad Moon
512 Lisa Appelbaum
432 Bill Wimley
387 Amber King

Observation Distribution

For the first time, we met our goal of collecting biodiversity data in all 12 of 12 parishes!

1. East Baton Rouge 8,785
2. West Feliciana 1,541
3. St. Tammany 1,334
4. Ascension 833
5. Iberville 532
6. Livingston 450

7. East Feliciana 412
8. Tangipahoa 258
9. Pointe Coupee 162
10. Washington 72
11. West Baton Rouge 67
12. St. Helena 8

Observation Hot Spots

1. BREC Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center
2. LSU Lakes & City Park Lake
3. LSU Campus
4. Maryann Brown Nature Preserve
5. LSU Hilltop Arboretum
6. BREC Forest Community Park
7. BREC Dawson Creek Trail & Perkins Road Park
8. Northlake Nature Center
9. Port Hudson State Historic Site
10. LDWF Tunica Hills WMA
11. BREC Bayou Manchac Park
12. BREC Kendalwood Park
13. LDWF Maurepas Swamp WMA
14. Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge
15. LDWF Waddill Wildlife Refuge

16. BREC Highland Road Park & Observatory
17. BREC Blackwater Conservation Area
18. BREC Independence Park
19. BREC Frenchtown Conservation Area
20. LDWF Joyce WMA
21. Baton Rouge Audubon Society Amite River Wildlife Sanctuary
22. Tickfaw State Park
23. Abita Springs Park
24. Rosedale Village Park
25. BREC Sandy Creek Community Park
26. BREC Hooper Road Park
27. Capitol Grounds & Capitol Lake
28. Fairview-Riverbend State Park
29. BREC Greenwood Park & BR Zoo
30. Bogue Chitto State Park

Observation Quality

We were #186 in the world for Research Grade observations, so we have some work to do to assure we are providing useful scientific data. That said, 49% of our observations were Research Grade at the end of the contest, which is a vast improvement over last year which was 32%. Great job!

“Research Grade” means that the observation has data quality that is acceptable for use in scientific research. A research grade observation has these 5 criteria: 1) Is a wild organism, 2) Has a location, 3) Has a date, 4) The identification is verified twice at a certain taxon level, and 5) Has good evidence of the organism in the photo or sound recording. iNaturalist research data is free to everyone and shared with several scientific research platforms, including global biodiversity research repositories like GBIF. Observations missing any of the key criteria are marked as “Casual” observations so researchers can filter them out.

93% of our observations were Verifiable, which means they included a photo or sound recording and were not Casual observations. We had a lot of Casual observations of cultivated plants and plants planted by humans. This is a pretty low result, placing us at 357th place globally. New Orleans beat us on this statistic.

Louisiana Results

We won the friendly head-to-head competition with New Orleans! We hope additional cities will join the fun next year!

#1 Baton Rouge region (#25 globally)
#2 New Orleans region (#141 globally)

Baton Rouge City Nature Challenge 2023 Favorite Finds & Moments

Selected by the Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater Baton Rouge

Global Results

1,870,763
Observations Made

During the four day challenge

57,227
Species Documented

including 2,570 rare, endangered, and threatened species

66,394
People Participated

From 482 cities in 46 countries

The overall winner is La Paz, Bolivia, with an incredible 126,000 observations by 3,000 observers! The runner ups are: Cape Town, Dallas/Fort Worth, Mazatlán, and Houston-Galveston.

View the global City Nature Challenge project in iNaturalist.

2023 City Nature Challenge Infographic

Global Leaderboard

Observations

  1. La Paz, Bolivia

  2. Cape Town, South Africa

  3. Dallas/Fort Worth

  4. Mazatlán, Mexico

  5. Houston-Galveston

  6. Hong Kong

  7. Washington D.C.

  8. Cosalá, Mexico

  9. Graz, Austria

  10. Monterrey, Mexico

  11. San Francisco Bay Area

  12. Hyderabad, India

  13. Los Angeles County

  14. Chiayi, Taiwan

  15. Greater Boston

  16. South Florida

  17. Salzburg, Austria

  18. San Antonio

  19. San Diego County

  20. Melbourne, Australia

  21. Austin Region

  22. Milazzo, Italy

  23. Central New Mexico / Albuquerque

  24. Trinidad, Bolivia

  25. Baton Rouge Region

  26. Rome, Italy

  27. eThekwini, South Africa

  28. Philadelphia

  29. Prague, Czech Republic

  30. New York City

Species

  1. La Paz, Bolivia

  2. Hong Kong

  3. Cosalá, Mexico

  4. Cape Town, South Africa

  5. Houston-Galveston

  6. Graz, Austria

  7. South Florida

  8. Dallas/Fort Worth

  9. Washington D.C.

  10. San Francisco Bay Area

  11. Monterrey, Mexico

  12. Salzburg, Austria

  13. Mazatlán, Mexico

  14. Chiayi, Taiwan

  15. Los Angeles County

  16. San Antonio

  17. Austin Region

  18. Garden Route, South Africa

  19. San Diego County

  20. Melbourne, Australia

  21. Baton Rouge Region

  22. Wellington, New Zealand

  23. Raleigh

  24. Thekwini, South Africa

  25. Vienna

  26. Milazzo, Italy

  27. Rome, Italy

  28. Lower Rio Grande Valley, TX

  29. Philadelphia

  30. Trinidad, Bolivia

Observers

  1. La Paz, Bolivia

  2. San Francisco Bay Area

  3. Los Angeles County

  4. Monterrey, Mexico

  5. Washington D.C.

  6. Houston-Galveston

  7. Boston

  8. Dallas/Fort Worth

  9. Cape Town, South Africa

  10. Austin Region

  11. South Florida

  12. San Diego County

  13. Melbourne, Australia

  14. San Antonio

  15. Seattle-Tacoma

  16. Raleigh

  17. Asheville

  18. Hong Kong

  19. Chicagoland Region

  20. Rome, Italy

  21. Mazatlán, Mexico

  22. Portland

  23. Philadelphia

  24. Sacramento

  25. Baltimore

  26. Inland Empire Region, CA

  27. Trinidad, Bolivia

  28. New York City

  29. London

  30. Atlanta

    …

    45. Baton Rouge Region