Science & Nature
The City Nature Challenge Is Here. Upload Those Wild Photos, Chicagoans
All wildlife — animals, plants and fungi — is fair game for the City Nature Challenge. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
Hey, Chicagoans, you’ve been drafted by a team you probably didn’t even know was recruiting.
For the 2025 City Nature Challenge, Chicagoans will be competing along with their neighbors from northeast Illinois, southeast Wisconsin and northwest Indiana under the Chicagoland Region banner.
This friendly global competition is a showcase for the biodiversity found in urban yards, parks and nature preserves.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Every single person living in the area can contribute to the team’s tally of wildlife observations, from Friday through 11:59 p.m. Monday.
To participate, join the “City Nature Challenge 2025: Chicagoland Region” project on the iNaturalist platform. Then simply share your photos of plants, animals and fungi.
In 2024, the Chicagoland Region collectively recorded more than 11,000 observations made by 1,000 people.
Scientists and land managers tap into this data to better understand not just which species are present in an area, but where and when. The absence of observations of certain species can be equally telling.
Independent exploration is one way to participate in the challenge, but conservation organizations in the Chicago region are also hosting a bunch of group observation events.
On Tuesday, the Illinois Science Council is inviting the public to help ID observations at District Brew Yard, 6-8 p.m.
Results of the challenge will be announced May 5.
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Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]