Citizen Science on the Radio: The Great Backyard Bird Count

This week on The Pulse and SciStarter’s segment about citizen science, producer Kimberly Haas  tags along with local birdwatcher Pat Evans as she studies migratory bird patterns and fluxes in bird populations from New Jersey. The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place from February 14th to 17th this year, so get started and let us know how many birds … Read more “Citizen Science on the Radio: The Great Backyard Bird Count”

Categories: Animals, Birds, Citizen Science, In the News

Audubon’s Adopt A Bird

Is your friend or family member an ornithologist, a conservationist, or a general appreciator of the environment? How about a Baltimore Orioles or Philadelphia Eagles fan?  Stanford Cardinal? Consider adopting a bird through Audubon’s gift program! (Orioles, eagles, and cardinals among a number of other birds are all available for adoption). For $30, through the … Read more “Audubon’s Adopt A Bird”

Categories: Animals, Birds, Ecology & Environment

Surveying Seabirds of the Puget Sound this Holiday Season.

If you’re looking for more projects for the holiday season, we’ve got 12 Days of Citizen Science for you! “On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” birds! Partridges, turtle doves, French hens, calling birds, golden rings (pheasants), geese and swans inhabit this festival folk classic celebrating food and merriment. Seabirds, … Read more “Surveying Seabirds of the Puget Sound this Holiday Season.”

Categories: Animals, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards All Birds: Christmas Bird Count

If you’re looking for more projects for the holiday season, we’ve got 12 Days of Citizen Science for you! Bird watching has been popular for a long time. It goes back at least as far as the 1780 bird-listing song so popular with carolers, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Certainly only birders would count 7 … Read more “Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards All Birds: Christmas Bird Count”

Categories: Birds, Citizen Science, Nature & Outdoors

12 Days of Christmas-y Citizen Science

Make sure you’re on Santa’s “nice list” this year. Lend your hands, hearts and brains to science during these 12 days leading up to Christmas! On the 1st day of Christmas, the Alliance for Saving Threatened Forests gave to me: A chance to monitor the invasive insects that attack both hemlocks and Fraser firs (the most popular … Read more “12 Days of Christmas-y Citizen Science”

Categories: Birds, Citizen Science, Geology & Earth Sciences, Health, Nature & Outdoors

Exploring the Biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands As “Darwin for a Day”

Dig into even more Thanksgiving projects with your friends and family! Imagine: After months of treacherous sailing across the open ocean, skirting coral reefs and rocky shores, you alight upon lush tropical islands greeted by enticing aromas, unknown species, and a symphony of bird song… Four years into her circumnavigation of the globe, the HMS … Read more “Exploring the Biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands As “Darwin for a Day””

Categories: Animals, Apps, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors

A Fabulous Menu of Citizen Science for Thanksgiving

We’ve updated and reposted this Thanksgiving Day treat,  from Lily Bui! Dig into this serving of Thanksgiving projects with your friends and family! Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count Help researchers take census of winter Monarch butterflies. Count Monarchs in colonies, during the mornings around Thanksgiving. Get started!   Thanksgiving Day Western Bird Count Help monitor winter bird … Read more “A Fabulous Menu of Citizen Science for Thanksgiving”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Nature & Outdoors

Build a nestbox, help a kestrel.

The American kestrel nesting season is in full swing! Found throughout the Americas, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius) is the smallest of the North American falcons. Unfortunately, its population is in decline particularly along the Pacific Coast and in New England. Much of the decline is due to land clearing which reduces the kestrel’s natural … Read more “Build a nestbox, help a kestrel.”

Categories: Birds

Final Four citizen science projects!

This post originally appeared on the PLOS Blog Network. We’re down to the Final Four in this year’s NCAA tournament, and chances are your bracket isn’t looking too good. Welcome to the club. Worry not! We’ve got four citizen science projects that will help you make the most of Final Four weekend. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES fans… … Read more “Final Four citizen science projects!”

Categories: Animals, Astronomy & Space, Biology, Birds, CitSci Research, Climate & Weather, Contest, Insects

Christmas Bird Count takes flight

See that partridge in a pear tree? Make sure you count it for Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, one of the largest and longest running citizen science projects in existence today. It’s a 112 year tradition, with upwards of 60,000 person-days of effort and more than 60 million birds counted each year. “Each of the citizen … Read more “Christmas Bird Count takes flight”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Ecology & Environment