If you weren’t able to join us yesterday for a live webinar on Citizen Science, you can still help to celebrate Citizen Science Month by finding a citizen science project that speaks to you. Read to the end of the article for a recording of the webinar.

Citizen Science is when members of the public get involved and report species data throughout the year, which allows scientists to measure changes and record trends. Being a citizen scientist can be useful to the science community, as well as a fun endeavor.

Why are citizen science and phenology reporting important? One big reason is because it helps scientists collect a wider breadth of data, which gives them a lot more information about our changing climate.

From the University of Maine: “Climate scientists have found that changes in the historical timing of plant and animal phenology is one of the most sensitive indicators of the local effects of global climate change.” (Source)

Here are resources to help you explore what citizen sciences projects are out there:

Citizen Science (CS) Databases:

• Resources from National Geographic - https://www.nationalgeographic.org/idea/citizen-science-projects/

• Federal Government list of CS programs - https://www.citizenscience.gov/#

• National Park CS programs - https://www.nps.gov/subjects/citizenscience/citizen-science.htm

• https://www.zooniverse.org/

• https://scistarter.org/finder

• https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscience

• Environmental Progection Agency CS links - https://www.epa.gov/citizen-science/how-find-citizen-science-projects

Citizen Science Project Websites

• New York State Bird Breeding Atlas - https://ebird.org/atlasny/home

• Journey North, tracks seasonal migrations (butterflies, robins, tulips, etc) https://journeynorth.org/

• National Phenology Network - https://www.usanpn.org/

• North America Breeding Bird Survey - https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/

• eBird, a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - https://ebird.org/ (also an app)

• iMapInvasives - http://www.nyimapinvasives.org/ (also an app)

• Budburst, a project of the Chicago Botanic Garden - https://budburst.org/

• Nature’s Notebook, a project of the USA National Phenology Network - https://www.usanpn.org/natures_notebook

• FrogWatch - http://www.elearning.aza.org/frogwatch-usa

• NYS Amphibian Migration and Road Crossings http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/51925.html

• NYS DEC WAVE (Water Assessment by Volunteer Evaluators) https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/92229.html

• GLOBE Observer: Clouds https://observer.globe.gov/

Apps that Can Help with Identification

• iNaturalist - an app the uses the CS community to help you identify species while also recording data, a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society

• PlantNet - a plant identification app that uses other active citizen scientists to help with or confirm an ID

• Audubon - a bird identification app and website with a downloadable database (important birding characteristics: size & shape, color pattern, behavior, and habitat)

• Merlin - a bird identification app through Cornell Lab of Ornithology