Bioblitzes are gatherings of scientists, citizen scientists, land managers, and more, all working together to find and identify as many different species as possible. Bioblitzes not only help land managers build a species list and atlas for their park and provide invaluable data for researchers, they also highlight the incredible biodiversity in these Bay Area oases.
Our bioblitzes are open to anyone and are family-friendly. Just bring your smartphone with the iNaturalist app, your curiosity, and your powers of observation to help catalog the natural wonders of our parks and open spaces.
We've been hosting grassroots bioblitzes in our community for over 5 years. Explore the events we've helped host in the past here!
Check below to find out about upcoming grassroots bioblitzes. Links will be live once the bioblitz is open for registration. Registration is free, but be sure to let us know you're coming so we can send you all the information you need prior to the bioblitz!
Come join us and San Mateo County Parks to explore the biodiversity of Sam McDonald Park. We'll walk among the redwoods together and document and share all of our nature finds on iNaturalist.
Come out with Cal Academy and our partners to discover what species live in Huddart Park. We explored one half of the park with San Mateo County Parks and a great group of citizen scientists this past fall, and we want to see what lives in the other half! This bioblitz is during the City Nature Challenge and is a great opportunity to make some iNaturalist observations for the Bay Area!
More than 100 cities on 7 continents will be competing April 26-29 to see how many wildlife observations their residents and visitors can make! Help the San Francisco Bay Area show the world how biodiverse our region is by making as many observations of as many species as possible!
Check back here for a list of local bioblitzes held during the City Nature Challenge. If you can't make it to any, we hope you can get outside and explore on your own!
We are lucky enough to partner with organizations who also host their own citizen science events. Check out their pages for some great upcoming bioblitzes, restoration days and more!
To sign up, click here
Our bioblitzes are powered by iNaturalist, our in-house, citizen science platform. It's a community-powered website and app that makes it easy to upload and share your observations in the field and to get help from other users with flora and fauna IDs.
A selection of videos, articles, and press that offer a closer look at citizen science at the Academy.
Have questions about our citizen science programs? Want to get involved? Email us at citizenscience@calacademy.org.
Academy citizen science is led by Rebecca Johnson, Alison Young, and Annie Miller.
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