Citizen Science

You don't have to be a professional scientist working in a research lab to contribute to scientific understanding.

There has been a long history of amateur and professional scientists collaborating on the collection of scientific data. This collaboration is often called "Citizen Science".

Citizen Science Projects cover a range of nature study interests. They are nature activities that the whole family can participate in. Children will need to work with an adult, but the kids will be doing actual science, not just reading about it.

Regional nature organizations often sponsor other programs such as ladybug, nest watch, plant monitoring and other projects. Check with your local nature organizations for information.

In these programs, amateur naturalists collect data for professional naturalist andresearch scientists to process. These research programs are sponsoredby organizations and universities.

A Selected List of Citizen Science Projects

Audubon Society Citizen Science Programs
http://www.audubon.org/bird/citizen/index.html

Bat House Project - Bat Conservation International
http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=47

Bird Studies Canada
http://www.bsc-eoc.org/bscmain.html

Bluebird Conservation - Transcontinental Bluebird Trail
http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/tbt.htm

Butterfly Counts
http://www.naba.org/counts.html

Christmas Bird Counts - Audubon
http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/

eBird - Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National AudubonSociety
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/whatisebird.html

Frogwatch Programs - National Wildlife Federation and USGeological Survey
http://www.nwf.org/frogwatchUSA/

Great Backyard Bird Count
http://www.audubon.org/gbbc/index.shtml

Nature Watch Programs - Canada
FrogWatch, IceWatch, PlantWatch and WormWatch Programs
http://www.naturewatch.ca/english/

North American Bird Banding Program - Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/

North American Breeder Bird Survey - Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/participate/

Plant Watch Monitoring Programs
check your local and regional groups

Plant Watch - Canada
http://www.naturewatch.ca/english/plantwatch/

Project Feeder Watch - Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Canada
http://www.bsc-eoc.org/national/pfw.html

Project Feeder Watch - Cornell Lab of Ornithology - United States
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

USA National Phenology Research - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Geography/npn/

From Citizen Science Return to Nature Activities

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