Join the Challenge

Collecting observations during COVID-19

We urge all participants to carefully follow public health guidelines provided by your local governments. Individual safety and public health are our utmost priority.

• Please adhere to all guidelines set out by the Provincial Health Officer
• Respect all park and facility closures. Visit http://bcparks.ca/covid-19/ for information on provincial park closures.
• Avoid high-risk activities or areas.

Other ways you can add observations to the project:
• Collect observations in your yard or neighbourhood while social distancing. If you are recording an observation of life that is not wild, please mark it as captive/cultivated on iNaturalist.
• Add images you've taken previously. Even observations that are from previous years are helpful. Be sure to properly record the date the image was taken within your observation notes. If you have multiple photos to share, the iNaturalist web platform includes a batch-uploading feature.

Further information on COVID-19:
BC Centre for Disease Control
World Health Organization
Government of Canada COVID-19

Where to upload your observations

To upload an observation, start by registering for a free account on iNaturalist. If you're especially interested in birds and cetaceans, sign up with eBird Canada, Birds Canada or the BC Cetacean Sightings Network. You may also download the iNaturalist, eBird and WhaleReport apps on your mobile phone (available for both Android and iPhone). Use the Seek by iNaturalist app to identify your organisms before uploading to iNaturalist.

Check out our iNaturalist how-to guide to get started.

Join over 30,000 other British Columbians and become a Community Scientist today.

Please visit our Resources pages for more tools and guides, including photography tips and bingo cards for some family fun, and our Events page for organized nature-reporting activities you can participate in!

More questions? See our FAQs.

iNaturalist is an international observer platform for all animal and plant observations.

eBird is dedicated to the collection of bird observations, showing bird distribution and abundance.

frogwatch is dedicated to collecting observations of frogs in Canada, and how they relate to climate change.

Birds Canada is another platform dedicated to collecting observations of wild birds in Canada.

The WhaleReportApp faciltiates the tracking of cetaceans on the coast of British Columbia.

Join B.C.'s Nature Challenge with the BC Parks Foundation

Simply find wildlife (or signs of wildlife)

It can be any plant, animal, fungus, or evidence of life.

Take a photo using a phone or digital camera

Snap a pic of what you find! Be sure to note your location.

Share it on iNaturalist or other nature-reporting apps!

Upload your photo(s) and observation details through any of our partner platforms.

Photography Tips

Here's some tips on what to photograph to get the best observations!

Plants

Petals, leaves, stem and base.

Trees
Shrubs

Close-ups of the bark and leaves, wide shot of the whole plant.

Mushrooms

Underside, top and sides.

Snails

Shell opening and both sides of the shell (if you can without disturbing them!).

Mollusks

Hinge where the two shell halves meet and inside the shell if it's empty.

Dragonflies

Side shots are best with a close-up of the tail. From above if it has a distinctive wing pattern.

Bugs
Beetles
Crabs
Spiders

From above and from the front to show mouthparts or claws.

Small Organisms

Include an object in the photo to help show size. This could be as simple as your hand, lens cap, or a pencil.