Wow! We here at NHM are excited to be getting closer and closer to catching our friends in San Francisco. At one point in the City Nature Challenge we were over 2,000 observations behind, and as of 8:30 p.m. (PST) on April 19, we are less than 1,100 observations behind.

S.F.: 6978 observations, 1287 species, 380 people
L.A.: 5887 observations, 1147 species, 310 people.

Can we close the gap even more? What will happen over the next few days? Time will tell, but we know that Angelenos won't quit! We encourage our iNat users to recruit your friends to make some final observations.

Remember, in L.A. we accept observations through three ways:

• Posting directly to iNaturalist
• Through e-mail: nature@nhm.org
• Tagging on social media: #natureinla on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Everyone loves a comeback!

Cheers!

@lhiggins @smartrf @nhmordenana
NHM Citizen Science Program

OMG This is coming down to the wire.

As of 9:30 p.m. (PST) our friends in San Francisco are still in the lead, but our lovely Angelenos have closed the gap to the closest it has ever been.

San Francisco: Obs: 8088, Species: 1431, People: 409
Los Angeles: Obs: 7783, Species: 1351, People: 349

Can L.A. pull off a huge comeback? Can S.F. retain its lead from start to finish? It is only through citizen science that these questions will be answered. Regardless, this has been so much fun, so engaging, and so inspiring to our field and our communities. California has amazing wildlife and people!

California #YayCalifornia #ButGoLA #SoCal #SoLA #NatureinLA

@smartrf @lhiggins @nhmordenana
NHM Citizen Science Program

Hold tight folks, us and California Academy of Sciences are working to tally the ‪#‎CityNatureChallenge‬ results! We're proud to say that L.A. broke the 10,000 observation marker. Announcement of results tomorrow morning! ‪#‎EarthDay

@lhiggins @nhmordenana @smartrf
NHM Citizen Science Program

You did it, Los Angeles! Your contributions to the City Nature Challenge L.A. vs S.F. enabled us to come from behind and beat San Francisco!

It was truly a collaborative effort from the entire county of Los Angeles. When we were over 2,000 observations behind, nobody gave up. Instead it seemed that everyone used that as motivation to document more wildlife, and to make as many species identifications as they could. Together, with San Francisco's observations, we contributed almost 20,000 observations to iNaturalist. That is a win for everyone in both cities.

We actually had over 570 citizen scientists submit observations in Los Angeles County (iNat users plus those sending in e-mails and social media posts).

Thanks again to everyone! We are extremely fortunate to have you all living in our community, and participating in our projects. #GoLA #NatureinLA

Sincerely,

@lhiggins @nhmordenana @smartrf
NHM Citizen Science Program