Citizen science project on urban canids provides different results from camera traps but generates interest and revenue

As urbanization increases, wildlife increasingly encounters people. Coyotes Canis latrans and red foxes Vulpes vulpes are two canid species that have readily adapted to urban environments. Citizen science has emerged as a low‐cost method of collecting data on urban‐adapted species that can benefit management agencies but may provide different results than traditional methods. We analyzed data collected by citizen scientists and via motion‐triggered camera traps to see how each related to the anthropogenic features of distance to roads, building density, and median household income and the natural feature of distance to water. We also investigated the potential benefits of advertising the citizen science project on social media. We used occupancy models to analyze data from a grid of 67 cameras across Wichita, Kansas, USA, from March 2023 to February 2024. We used generalized linear models to evaluate data collected simultaneously from a website we created and advertised on social media where members of the public could report sightings of urban canids. The camera‐trap occupancy models suggested that red fox occurrence was only related positively to building density and coyote occurrence was related negatively to building density and positively to income. The citizen science models suggested that sighting reports of both species were more likely closer to roads, at intermediate building densities, and in high income neighborhoods. Coyotes and red foxes were both most likely to be detected by people during crepuscular periods but most likely to be detected by cameras at night. We also found that advertisements increased sighting reports and generated six times as much revenue for the wildlife agency than was spent. Our study suggests that citizen science data differ from camera‐trap data by tracking human activity patterns and distribution, but citizen science projects can provide other benefits such as generating interest in and revenue for management agencies.