The City Nature Challenge is nearly upon us, and Wellesley residents are being encouraged by the town’s Natural Resources Commission and Conservation Council to take part in this family-friendly and social-distancing-approved outdoor activity.

Download the iNaturlist app on an Apple or Android phone and you’re ready to start taking pictures of and identifying wild critters and plants. The official photo taking will take place April 24-27 in the wake of Earth Day #50 on April 22. Then the crowdsourced identification portion of the challenge takes place April 28-May 1.

The exercise is a celebration of the world’s biodiversity designed to encourage people to take a closer look at their immediate surroundings. Last year Wellesley was part of a Boston-area group of observers more than 1,100 strong that made more than 20,000 nature observations.