City Nature Challenge 2026

From Friday 24 April to Monday 27 April, you’ll join people from across Melbourne and around the world to observe and record wild plants and animals to help protect our local biodiversity.  

This is the fourth year in a row that Glen Eira is taking part in the Challenge, and we’re teaming up with more than 25 councils and organisations across Melbourne. 

During the four-day challenge, simply snap a photo of a plant or animal and upload it to iNaturalist. Your observations will automatically contribute to this project and help Melbourne compete on a global stage. You don’t need to worry about uploading during the challenge period, as you will have additional time to upload it from Tuesday 28 April to Sunday 10 May.

To get involved, simply:

• Download and install the free iNaturalist app in your device and create an iNaturalist account
• Get out into parks, streets and backyards over the four days of the Challenge. Take photos or record sounds of wildlife, plants, insects and fungi anywhere in the City of Glen Eira.
• Share your observations via the iNaturalist app.

Watch this two-minute video on how to record nature observations with iNaturalist and see what others have spotted around Glen Eira.

Want to take a deeper dive into using iNaturalist?

• view this recording of an iNaturalist training webinar with Dr Luis Mata.
• Watch this Beginners guide to using iNaturalist, hosted by an expert from iNaturalist.

Stay up to date 

Stay tuned for news about events that Council will be running during the challenge, on our Facebook page and by subscribing to our free sustainability newsletter.

You can also visit the dedicated Glen Eira City Nature Challenge iNaturalist page to check out what other Glen Eira residents have spotted during the Challenge and visit the Melbourne iNaturalist page to see how Melbourne is doing in comparison to other cities across the world.