Bay Area ‘City Nature Challenge’ with California Academy of Sciences turns into global competition in less than a decade [Video]

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KGO) — You can’t miss the dramatic view at Pilar Point near Half Moon Bay. But look a little closer, and you just might discover a hidden world.

“And this little hermit crab right here, it’s the greeny hermit crab,” said Alison Young, co-director of Community Sciences at the California Academy of Sciences.

Armed with cellphone cameras, Young and a team from the California Academy of Sciences joined a small army of volunteers, in what’s now become an international competition. It’s known as the City Nature Challenge, and the goal is to photograph and identify as many plant and animal species as possible in a matter of days. In the slippery tide pools around the point, they discovered everything from crabs to sea stars to anemones.

“We found a bunch of sea stars. Always trying to find them out in the mussel beds. So lots of mussels out there. We found a …