City Nature Challenge 2024 in Berlin

The City Nature Challenge in 2024 took place from the 26th of April to the 5th of May. Numerous cities worldwide participated this year in the competition in order to document global biodiversity. As I was in Berlin at that weekend, of course, I supported Berlin with my participation. In this blog entry I share some of my observations at that weekend of the City Nature Challenge 2024.

City Nature Challenge 2024

Where do people observe and document most species? In which city do most people participate in the City Nature Challenge 2024? Und from where are the most nature observations - be it a fungal, plant or animal?

Although the City Nature Challenge is a competition, it is not all about winning. It is more about mobilizing as many people as possible to explore urban environment and sharing all nature observations a worldwide community.

The City Nature Challenge took place for the first time in 2016. At first, it was only a competition between the cities Los Angeles and San Francisco in the USA. However, as more and more people became interested in this kind of competition, the City Nature Challenge grew one year later in 2017 to a national event. In the following year, in 2018, the City Nature Challenge finally became international.

I am very happy that it seems that there is so much interest in nature observations. Of course, I participated this year as well. While I was unfortunately very busy the previous year, meaning I could not participate in 2023, but in the second last year, in 2022, I participated in the City Nature Challenge 2024 again. Similar to the year 2022, birds were my main focus in 2024 (on the photograph is a wood warbler).

This year, in total, 690 cities participated in the City Nature Challenge 2024. I found it quite exciting that there were so many cities from all continents. Especially in North America numerous cities became part of the City Nature Challenge this year. But also, in South America and Europe many cities were high in number. In Asia, especially many cities participated in India and in Africa, most cities that participated, came from the southern region of Africa. In Australia and New Zealand, comparatively few cities joined in.

Luckily, Berlin took part in the City Nature Challenge 2024. While I had no time last year, as mentioned, this year I wanted to contribute as many nature observations as possible (but there were still people with more observations).

The City Nature Challenge 2024 began on the 26th of April. All participants could contribute as many photographs or other records from fungi, plants or animals on the website of iNaturalist until the 29th of April.

Between the 30th of April and the 5th of May, all participants were called upon to identify as many nature observations as possible.

On the weekend of the City Nature Challenge 2024 I documented both plants and animals (especially birds) in different places in Berlin and uploaded my nature observations on the iNaturalist website.

My observations

Fauler See

My first stop on the weekend of the City Nature Challenge 2024 was the lake Fauler See in Berlin. When I entered the forested area around the lake, great tits seemingly welcomed my arrival. However, as fast as they emerged in front of me, as fast they flew away again. At the top of the trees, they continued with their songs. Later I also observed some blue tits.

Great tits and blue tits are very common birds in Berlin. I encounter them in all parks and other green areas in the city. In Berlin they have encountered a safe place.

One bird, which I have met in Berlin so far just in one area - and this is by the lake Fauler See - is the wood warbler. I have to admit. I was again looking for this bird. And voilà. I found it.

The wood warbler is a very beautiful bird and can be easily confused with the willow warbler and the common chiffchaff. As wood warbler at the lake Fauler See are very joyfully singing in spring, I could easily identify the wood warbler by its song.

The common chiffchaf and the willow warbler sing quite differently. As I see wood warbler not very often, that means, typically just in spring at the lake Fauler See, that encounter was very special for me.

A bird, which I see quite often in Berlin, is the European robin.

Often, when I do not see the European robin, I hear its typical song. Then I know that this bird is anywhere around me. This was the case on that weekend at the lake Fauler See. At first, I just heard a European robin. But where was it? In one moment, however, the bird appeared by the wayside and I could have a look at it.

At the top of the trees, I could detect a great spotted woodpecker and a Eurasian jay.

I waited for them to come down and a little bit closer. But I waited in vain. They did not come down. Thus, I left.

On the lake I saw a mute swan.

Was he or she alone? I did not know. Maybe yes, because I just saw one. Maybe no, because another mute swan might have been elsewhere on the lake and I just didn't see it.

I did not stay for a long time.

As I could contribute to the City Nature Challenge not just observations of animals, but also plants, I tried to not neglect all the plants around me. This was not always easy, as there were so many.

Honestly, I wished that I would have contributed more plants to the competition. But the abundance of plants made me ignore too many plant species. I told myself that it is okay to photograph some and not all plants I encountered.

At the lake Fauler See I observed, for example, the leatherleaf viburnum.

When I was about to leave, I heard a bird singing loudly. I did not recognize the bird in the first instance, because I do not hear this bird regularly.

I stopped, prepared my camera again and waited for the bird to show up.

And yes. I was lucky.

The bird showed up and sang just in front of me.

It was a Eurasian wren.

At first, the bird sang and sang and sang.

But a few moments later the bird stopped singing. Instead, the bird began with its typical warning calls.

Was it because of me? In that moment I spotted a nest hanging at a tree trunk. I stood in the way! When I saw the nest, of course, I moved into the other direction in order to clear the way. By all means, I did not want to disturb the bird. I decided to move and stand further afar. As beautiful it was to observe that Eurasian wren, I thought, I have to go and leave the bird.

After this encounter I left the area around the lake Fauler See and went to the next stop.

Weißensee

I stopped by the lake Weißensee just for some few observations. Meaning, I just drove round the lake once and stopped when I saw something interesting.

Of course, I saw something interesting.

At first, I saw an Eurasian coot in its nest. I stopped for one moment and tried to get a glimpse of the nesting Eurasian coot and photograph it through the shrubs.

However, I found that that Eurasian coot was not very well hidden. I asked myself if most of them breed successfully at the lake Weißensee?

Unfortunately, I do not have an answer for this, but a photograph of one single Eurasian coot.

I got on my bicycle again and left.

I thought: "Maybe I will see a great crested grebe?"

Yes. I did:

In other years I had observed already great crested grebes at the lake Weißensee. In a previous year I had already observed a great crested grebe how it tried to eat a fish which was (in my view) too big to swallow.

This year I did not see a great crested grebe feeding on a fish. But I saw some adults with their chicks.

I already knew that great crested grebes breed at the lake Weißensee, because I had seen it in previous years.

After my round around the lake Weißensee, I went home to take a break. But before I left the lake and the recreational area, I stopped for a short moment to get a photograph of a magpie and some plants.

Volkspark Friedrichshain

While I was focused on birds at the lakes Fauler See and Weißensee, my plan was to mainly document plants in the park Volkspark Friedrichshain. Actually, I wanted to focus on birds again, however, during the day the park became fuller and fuller, and thus, I was not in the mood to focus on birds. I prefer observing birds when I am (almost) alone. Furthermore, during the day the birds were not that active than in the morning. I was in the park in the late afternoon and early evening. At that time the park is usually full with people. In the morning, I could not go to the park, because I was by the lakes Fauler See and Weißensee.

On my way to the park Volkspark Friedrichshain I spotted already some plants to document.

I very liked the smell of the lilac with its beautiful lilac-white blossoms.

I also tried to document all different tree species I found on my way to the park.

It was easy to identify the horse chestnut.

In the park I immediately saw a pedunculate oak.

I usually photograph not only leaves, but also tree barks and blossoms.

Especially conspicuous was the common beech.

Less conspicuous, by contrast, where smaller plants like the purple dead-nettle or the greater celandine.

Both plants are very common in Berlin in spring. In the park Volkspark Friedrichshain I saw them at different places.

In contrast, I saw only a unique specimen of a lesser periwinkle.

In some places around the park, I encountered trees of the common hazel. Of course, the trees still had no ripe fruits in spring. But this will change in the course of the year, so that Eurasian red squirrels find numerous nuts. Hazelnuts is one of their favourite food.

Apropos animals.

Which animals did I see on the well-attended Saturday afternoon and evening in the park? I heard, for example, a European green woodpecker. However, unfortunately, I did not see this bird on that day in the park, as the bird was hidden at the top of the trees. Thus, I took the following photograph not on that, but on another day in the park Volkspark Friedrichshain.

One bird sang especially wonderfully. And this was a song thrush. I could see the song thrush in the tree; however, the bird was too hidden in the tree to get a nice photograph. Therefore, the following photograph I did not take at the weekend of the City Nature Challenge 2024. As I do not see or hear song thrushes regularly in the park Volkspark Friedrichshain, I took the following photograph in another park in Berlin.

On my way up the hill, I encountered a hooded crow. But this crow was rather cautious on that day. Usually, the hooded crows in the park Volkspark Friedrichshain are rather loud and conspicuous. But on that day it was more the opposite.

I also encountered groups of starlings and woodpigeons in the park.

But on that day - maybe because of all the noise in the park - these birds rather stayed at the edges of the park. Even for me it was already a little bit too much in the park. I also would have been able to go to another place to collect nature observations for the City Nature Challenge. But where in a city like Berlin? And isn't the City Nature Challenge a competition IN the city?

I photographed some more plants for the City Nature Challenge 2024. I also tried to identify all of them. However, this was not easy for me in all cases, as I am not a plant specialist. The app Flora Incognita, by the way, was very, very helpful. Thus, I tried to identify at first the plants with Flora Incognita, and then, I hoped to get more help on the platform iNaturalist.

Tempelhofer Feld

On the other day I went to the Tempelhofer Feld. There, I focused again on birds, but of course, I also took some photographs of plants.

At the Tempelhofer Feld I especially enjoyed the songs of the Eurasian skylarks.

When I listen to the Eurasian skylarks, I feel summer.

In April and May, it is also possible to hear many common nightingales. However, it is not always that easy to spot them. Like in this year. I saw one common nightingale this year for a very short moment at the Tempelhofer Feld, but it vanished again as soon as it saw me.

Therefore, the following photograph is not from this year, but from another year at the Tempelhofer Feld. However, the following audio is indeed from the common nightingale I heard this year at the Tempelhofer Feld.

Other birds I observed at the Tempelhofer Feld on that weekend for the City Nature Challenge 2024 included Eurasian blackcaps (above on the left), common blackbirds (above on the right), house sparrows (below on the left) and corn buntings (below on the right).

Actually, there are normally many more different bird species at the Tempelhofer Feld. However, on that morning it was rather quiet. It was a grey and a little bit chilly morning.

One bird, which was highly vocal, was the hooded crow. The bird was sitting at the top of a small tree and called several times.

Ernst-Thälmann-Park

At the park Ernst-Thälmann-Park I could listen to very beautiful songs of a common nightingale. Again, I did not see the common nightingale. In the park Ernst-Thälmann-Park it is especially difficult to spot a common nightingale. But they sing especially loudly and beautifully. Is it because of the road traffic?

This year I could spot a common nightingale well close to the lakes Karower Teiche (but this was on another weekend).

Results of the City Nature Challenge 2024

In total, 2.432.902 observations were uploaded on iNaturalist for the City Nature Challenge 2024. Some observations, meaning, especially plant and animal species, were documented by several nature observers. Therefore, at the end, 69.900 species were collected by all participants. In total, 85.755 people participated in the City Nature Challenge this year. In comparison, in 2023 fewer observations were uploaded, fewer species were found, and fewer people participated (observations: 1.870.763; species: 57.277+; participants: 66.394). Thus, in all three sections, the City Nature Challenge improved when compared to the previous year. It is good to know, that more and more people contribute to this kind of competition. In 2016, the City Nature Challenge could count only about 1.000 participants, and only about 19.800 observations and 2.544 species.

Especially many people participated in the cities La Paz (Boliva) with 3.616, San Francisco (USA) with 2.753 and Monterrey (Mexico) with 2.613 participants. In Berlin, only 361 people participated in the City Nature Challenge. Interestingly, however, there were more than 200 cities where fewer than 10 people participated. Thus, Berlin was not that bad. But how could La Paz motivate so many people?

La Paz was also very outstanding with respect to number of species. Nature observers in La Paz uploaded 4.779 plant and animal species! Interestingly, however, in Hong Kong (4.702 species) and Graz to nature park Steiermark (4.446 species), participants uploaded quite many observations to the competition. Honestly, I was quite surprised by the results. Berlin was with 2.299 species not that bad. Berlin is a city in Central Europe and not that species-rich than other parts of the world.

With respect of number of observations, of course, La Paz won with 167.665 observations. Monterrey as well contributed substantially to the results of the City Nature Challenge. In Monterrey, participants contributed 82.697 observations. That is good, but still, it is a great difference to La Paz. Another town where participants uploaded quite many observations - meaning, 65.065 observations - was San Antonio in Texas (USA). In Berlin, participants contributed 17.954 observations to the City Nature Challenge 2024.

In my opinion, Berlin was not bad. I just thought that more cities of the USA would be at the top of participants, observations, and species, as this competition started there. However, it is so good that the City Nature Challenge became successful in other parts of the world. Now I'm interested in how could La Paz motivate so many people for the City Nature Challenge 2024?

More information

Have you participated in the City Nature Challenge 2024? Or have you participated in a previous year? If yes, in which city? Please let me know in the comments.