Over 260 species identified in Maroondah through the City Nature Challenge

Thank you to everyone who took part in the 2023 City Nature Challenge! Your observations will help record Maroondah’s remarkable biodiversity and help make our city an even better place to live - for you and other species.

The City Nature Challenge is an annual four-day event that sees people across the globe become citizen scientists by finding, photographing and recording the native plants, animals and fungi in their local areas. Over 57,000 species were identified in more than 1.8 million observations in this year’s challenge, which ran from Friday 28 April to Monday 1 May.

Maroondah recorded a total of 1,301 observations and identified more than 260 species. Among the most observed species in Maroondah were the Southern Brown Tree Frog, the Cherry Ballart and the Australian Magpie.

Of particular note is that Maroondah observers managed to take photos of the Southern Brown Tree Frog and the Eastern Banjo Frog, species often heard but not seen, as well as a wide variety of fungi, both native species (such as the Ruby Bonnet) and invasive species (such as the Orange Pore Fungus).

Maroondah also teamed up with 26 neighbouring Councils to represent Greater Melbourne in the challenge. Greater Melbourne finished 20th out of more than 480 cities across the globe, with the third highest number of observations in the Southern Hemisphere. Over 19,000 observations were recorded of 2,345 species - fantastic results that will help document biodiversity in the Greater Melbourne region! Maroondah also recorded the fifth highest number of observations (1,301) of Councils in the Greater Melbourne region. 

Mayor of Maroondah, Councillor Rob Steane, said the community’s efforts will help support local biodiversity. 

“It was fantastic to see residents participating in the City Nature Challenge. Thank you to everyone who took part,” Cr Steane said.

“Your efforts will help local environmentalists, scientists, land managers and Council to better understand our local biodiversity and help us continue to build a record of different species in our area so that we can manage and protect them.”

Visit our Discovering Nature page for updates on Maroondah’s involvement in future citizen science events.

2023 City Nature Challenge results Global results 1,846,839 observations 57,227 species 65,800 observers Greater Melbourne results 19,206 observations (20th overall out of 482 cities, and 3rd from the Southern Hemisphere) 2,345 species (20th overall) 924 observers (13th overall) Maroondah results 1,301 observations (5th of the 27 Greater Melbourne Councils) 269 species 60 observers Observations

The top 5 most observed species in Maroondah were:

Southern Brown Tree Frog (Litoria ewingii) Cherry Ballart (Exocarpos cupressiformis) Ruby Bonnet (Cruentomycena viscidocruenta) Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) Mycena austrofilopes