City Nature Challenge : Christchurch City Council

The City Nature Challenge (CNC) started in 2016 as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and has grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in their own cities.

Run by the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), the City Nature Challenge is an annual four-day global bioblitz at the end of April, where cities collaborate to see what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal.

Find out more(external link)

Ōtautahi Christchurch has participated in the City Nature Challenge since 2019.

In 2024, there was a large-scale collaborative effort to put Otautahi on the biodiversity international map. The results saw us place 26 out of 690 cities, beating Los Angeles, Melbourne and Wellington.

In 2025, we blew the previous year's observations out of the water. Globally, we placed 27 out of 669 cities, with a grand total of 3.3 million observations made worldwide.

Can we do it again in 2026?

	2024	2025
Observations	20, 313	25,479
Species	2241	2441
Observers	359	377
Identifiers	642	618

See our observations and statistics on iNaturalist(external link)

Save the date

The 2026 City Nature Challenge will take place from Friday 24 to Monday 27 April 2026.

How it works

City Nature Challenge takes place in two parts:

Friday 24 to Monday 27 April: Take pictures of wild plants and animals. Wild, meaning that it wasn't put there, and is not being taken care of by people.
Tuesday 28 April to Sunday 10 May: Upload your photo observations to iNaturalist. You can try to identify the species you found, or you can let the experts do this for you.

Taking part

Do you have a phone or a camera? That's all you need:

Find wildlife: Head out to your local park, river, the beach - anywhere wild - to find wild plants and animals. You can also check back here for organised walks or meetups with community groups who are taking part.
Take a picture or record a sound of what you find. Be sure to note the location or have your camera gps turned on.
Share your findings: Sign up to iNaturalist(external link) and either download the app – Apple(external link) or Google Play(external link) – or sign in on your web browser, and join the 2026 project.(external link)

This is all free to do. Upload your photographs or sound recordings to iNaturalist, and they will automatically be added to this project during the City Nature Challenge.

Birdlife of Brooklands: Guided Walk

10am to midday, Friday 24 April
Meet beside the observation platform opposite Adrenalin Forest in Seafield Park, 100 Heyders Road, Spencerville.

Join Christchurch City Council ecologist and bird expert Andrew Crossland, who brings his 40 years of expertise, on a guided walk of Te Riu-o-Te-Aika-Kawa-Brooklands Lagoon.

The lagoon is an important wildlife area and home to countless insects, invertebrates, fish, native plants and over 112 recorded species of wetland birds.

Spot, photograph and hopefully identify an array of water birds and the vibrant life forms thriving in these unique ecosystems, equipped with expert guidance and the indispensable iNaturalist app.

This guided experience will take you along the edge of the lagoon to the bird hide and back.

You will have two weeks following this event to upload any photos to iNaturalist to count twards the City Nature Challenge totals.

Please email parksevents@ccc.govt.nz to register for the event.

Mahoe Mini Bioblitz

2pm to 4pm, Sunday 26 April
Mohoe Reserve, 34 Boundary Road, Lincoln

Get ready for a family adventure! Join Canterbury Museum for a Mini Bioblitz!

You'll be on the hunt for anything that flies, grows, crawls and hides!

Experts from Canterbury Museum will be joining us for the challenge, which takes place globally as people from all over the world look to see the diversity of life in our local areas. We need your help to find and record all the amazing plants and creatures that call Mahoe home! From tiny bugs to towering trees.

What to expect

Get a close-up look at the creatures you find with our digital microscope connected to a monitor!

Our expert volunteers will be equipped with butterfly nets, beating sheets, and soil sieves to help collect and identify species from every corner of the reserve.

Download the iNaturalist(external link) app before attending to contribute your findings to the global City Nature Challenge 2026.

A big thank you to our wonderful sponsors! We extend our sincere appreciation to all our sponsors, Rata Foundation, Selwyn District Council, COGS, Lottery Community, Lincoln University, Creative Communities Scheme, Lincoln Community Trust, Lincoln Community Committee.

Find out more.(external link)

Awards Night! Hoake ki te Taiao City Nature Challenge Ōtautahi 2026

5:30pm - 7:30pm, Thursday 14 May
TSB room, L1 Tūranga

Come celebrate our success with the team behind the City Nature Challenge and find out… did we beat Wellington?

We invite our local iNaturalist NZ community to get together in person, connect and network with like-minded nature lovers. The results of the Global City Nature Challenge and our own local efforts will be shared as well as spotlighting on our local heroes. Prizes will be awarded for 11 categories including most observations, most species and most unusual finds and this year for the first time a schools challenge!

Thank you to our prize sponsors, Canterbury University Press, Trees for Canterbury, Christchurch City Council Libraries and Parks.

Stay for drinks and nibbles after the prize-giving.

Grab a free ticket from Humanitix.(external link)

Ōtautahi is home to an incredible array of plants and wildlife - from endemic to native to introduced species.

Whether you stick to urban parks or head into the hills, hit the beach or scour the rivers, you're bound to discover plenty of awesome living things to photograph.