Join a worldwide challenge this weekend and help put your city's flora and fauna on the map.
It's called the City Nature Challenge, and all you need to participate is the free iNaturalist app on your smartphone and some time outside.
The challenge is to see which city can tally the most wild plants, animals, insects, mushrooms, fish, turtles — anything that can be photographed with a smartphone and sent to the app.
The challenge takes place across the globe for four days — from 12:01 a.m. April 30 to 11:59 p.m. May 3.
​Read the full article by Louisiana Master Naturalist Colette Dean in the Advocate...

Last year, the Wings of Hope Wildlife Sanctuary set a record, caring for more than 550 animals at the Livingston facility. As baby owls, purple martins, otters, pelicans and even a bald eagle continue to show up at the door this year, director Leslie Lattimore says that record will be shattered.
Lattimore attributes the increase in wildlife patients to the pandemic "because more people were staying at home, and they began to notice birds or other wildlife in their yards.”
Other events, like February's ice storm, also brought in lots of animals. In Denham Springs, the storm caused icicles to form on purple martin birdhouses in a colony created by the Adams family. Sixty ailing birds were collected and brought to Wings of Hope.
​Read the full article by Louisiana Master Naturalist Colette Dean in the Advocate...