2025 City Nature Challenge Recap for Kansas City Metro (Vertebrates and Plants)

The City Nature Challenge is an annual event that I always look forward to, when I have no conflicting engagements. I tend to plan around it, in fact. This year’s edition was held from Friday, April 27, through Monday, April 30.

Prothonotary Warbler at Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas.

Some background is in order for those unfamiliar with this urban bioblitz. What began in 2016 as a friendly challenge between the California cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles has blossomed into a global project. The intent is to generate public interest in native urban flora and fauna, document as many species as possible during the event period, and build a database useful for assessing environmental trends both locally and globally.

A young Common Five-lined Skink under a chunk of wood, Wyandotte County Lake Park.

Here in Kansas City, I am fortunate that the official map area includes counties a fair distance from the city. It is mostly rural in Leavenworth County, Kansas, where we live, but the town itself is at least suburban. Heidi and I usually travel to other areas, too, like Wyandotte County, Kansas, and Platte County, Missouri.

Louisiana Waterthrush at Weston Bend State Park, Missouri.

The weather this year was less than optimal, overcast virtually the entire time, cool temperatures in the low sixties (Fahrenheit), and occasional rain. Perhaps that is why public engagement was low. The stats are still coming in to iNaturalist, the web platform that hosts the observations for the event, but we had less than 300 people who contributed sightings. As a percentage of the human population, that is pretty dismal.

Blooming Mayapple in Havens Park, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Still, there is a current total of 3,744 observatios of 1,084 species (however iNaturalist defines that term, and it probably varies by taxon). Help in identifying observations has come from 349 individuals, from all over the globe. The border of Kansas and Missouri represents the eastern fringe of the Great Plains meeting the western edge of the eastern deciduous forest, so we have some diverse and interesting habitats.

Virginia Springbeauty, Weston Bend State Park, Missouri.

Personally, given the inclement weather, I looked at plants more heavily than I usually do. It helped that I now have an iPhone that takes photos which are comparable in quality to those produced by my Canon PowerShot SX70 camera. I think it performs better than the camera in some instances.

Blue Phlox, Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas.

When Heidi and I went out together, we focused on birds. This was especially true at Wyandotte County Lake Park in Kansas, and at Weston Bend State Park in Missouri. Both parks are heavily forested, with a large reservoir at one, and small streams running through the other.

A flock of six female Red-breasted Mergansers was a wonderful surprise at Wyandotte County Lake Park.

I don’t like that the City Nature Challenge brings out my competitive nature, but I feel compelled to demonstrate to other local citizens that insects and spiders are worth looking at. Consequently, I had the most observations for the Greater Kansas City Metro Area, and the second highest species tally. You can find the results for everyone at this link.

Swainson's Thrush at Wyandotte County Lake Park.

It is a good thing that the nature challenge was not a week later. I went back to Havens Park here in Leavenworth yesterday, May 5, to find that a new gravel road had been laid, right through a small, ephemeral wetland, and over glade habitat at the top of the park. I am devastated and angry. Rumor has it that it will eventually be another paved trail for cyclists, dog walkers, and others. I am all for accessibility, when it does not compromise ecosystems. I don’t know that I will go back to the park now, but there is nothing similar within walking distance of our home (I don’t ride a bike, nor drive any longer, and we only have one car anyway). Pretty much everything else here is lawns.

A male Summer Tanager, Havens Park, Leavenworth, Kansas.

One thing that appears sorely lacking for the City Nature Challenge is widespread publicity. There is a wonderful team of individuals at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History that organizes the event each year, but they can only do so much. They have to register cities, for example, which is a demanding chore all by itself. It is up to the individual metropolitan areas to do their own marketing.

A male Northern Parula at Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas.

Did you participate this year? Have you done so in years past? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments. Meanwhile, you can find my insect and spider observations from City Nature Challenge over on my Bug Eric blog.

Madrona Marsh

Freshwater wetlands in southern California have been shrinking for a long time, ever since draining them for development became profitable. Kudos, then, to the city of Torrance, California for preserving, and even enhancing, a wildlife haven called Madrona Marsh. The city park is named not for any madrone trees on the property, but for a neighborhood road, one of many named after various types of trees.

I had the pleasure of visiting the park on May 17 with my friends Kim Moore and Emile Feisler. Emile has been documenting the flora and fauna of the park in images for several years. We managed to add at least one new organism to his list while on our outing.

Like most parks in the Greater Los Angeles area, this one comes complete with a nature center. The displays were museum quality, and the building also had meeting space, a library, and offices. Across the street from the nature center is the actual preserve, fenced at present, the gate locked in off-hours.

The morning started under overcast skies leftover from rain the night before, but the clouds eventually gave way to a bright, sunny afternoon. Inclement weather by human standards is often just perfect for other organisms, though, and we found plenty of insects, birds, and other animals. One of the first birds we saw was a female Blue Grosebeak, in fact.

The marsh is actually a vernal wetland, fed by rains in the winter and spring. By the end of August the pan is dry, and remains so until the rains resume. This cyclic phenomenon means plants and animals must adapt to annual extremes of wet and dry. The area is also a “back dune” habitat that is part of the extensive El Segundo Sand Dune System. You would be hard pressed to find any physical feature resembling a dune, however.

Unfortunately, the preserve is not immune from non-native species, and in fact that is what dominates the landscape in many places. Argentine Ants have displaced most of the native ants, for example. There is also a leaf beetle from Australia that feeds voraciously on the equally-invasive eucalyptus trees.

The human history of the marsh has been varied. Native Americans and early settlers utilized the natural resources of the area. Since the 1920s, the marsh was used for oil recovery (southern California is studded with tar pits, not just the famous La Brea Tar Pits). Ironically, petroleum salvaging kept the area protected from commercial development. The Friends of Madrona Marsh, a non-profit organization established in 1971, worked with other community groups to galvanize support for saving the marsh as a wildlife habitat and passive recreation site. Lobbying efforts and legal wrangling paid off with the dedication of of 35 acres. Later, state funds were allocated to purchase another eight-and-a half acres. The City of Torrance took over stewardship of the park in 1986, helping to stave-off development as part of Park del Amo.

I highly recommend visiting Madrona Marsh. Keep an eye out for waterfowl and other birds, as well as Pacific Treefrogs, dragonflies and damselflies, and Fox Squirrels among the other wild animals that call this place home.