Since we are spending more time outside and also looking for opportunities to amuse our children and hopefully educate them a bit at the same time, this might just be Citizen Science’s big moment. The idea behind citizen science is that everyone can be a scientist. With a little bit of background and some simple tools, we can all be observers of the natural world. These efforts benefit both the plants and animals we study as well as ourselves. Citizen science is nothing fancy – just the practice of observation and recording, and you can pick any habitat or organism that interests you.

Spring is an amazing time to delve into this practice because there is so much change happening – buds are about to burst, fish are coming back, birds are nesting, tadpoles are hatching. But, each of these events happens slightly differently each year. Factors like rainfall, temperature, and sunlight all play roles, just to name a few of the “environmental variables.” To that end, most citizen science efforts involve some measurement of these environmental variables along with observations of a species. One other key is that this has to take place over a stretch of time so that you can see when things change each season and compare one year to the next.

If all of this measurement and observation were left only to the community of professional scientists, there would be no way they could collect the amount of information needed to track these changes. That’s why citizen science is so amazing. It harnesses the power of many people all working together. The other beauty of these efforts during this time of otherwise being isolated is that most of them are already designed for virtual sharing, and the activities required are independent and outside. You simply do your part and then enter data via an app or a website, and then you can see what others found as well to get a sense of the bigger picture.

So, what are some of these efforts that you can be involved in? A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about birding efforts as a part of Global Migratory Bird Day. There are ways to collect bird data year round – some international and some much more local. For example, the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension (https://extension.umaine.edu/4h/youth/citizen-science-opportunities/) has an extensive list of options including loon watching. The Signs of the Seasons (SOS) project has an amazing list of species you can track along with printable pages and instructions for recording your data.

If you’re looking for coastal options, rockweed is one of the indicator species in the Signs of the Season project. It’s an easy one to find, as it is one of the most common seaweeds on the shore, and you get to learn how to measure its growth and also how to assess water quality. Just a bit inland, you can count alewives at this time of year when they migrate upriver to spawn. The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) organizes fish counts at the Nequasset Fish Ladder each spring (https://www.kennebecestuary.org/fish-counting). It has been a super popular program this year, but there are still some times to observe in June. Or, you can just go there and observe. Take a few pictures, because KELT is always looking for good photos and videos to share.

Pulling this all together on a bigger scale, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland is planning to host the 2nd Annual NASA Citizen Science Community Workshop in late July. It’s uncertain whether it will be in person or virtual at this point, but there will be lots of resources available regardless. Large efforts like iNaturalist, GLOBE, and Zooniverse, just to name a few, will be participating as well as more local organizations.

One last tool to mention, and perhaps my newest friend both along the shore and further inland, is the app “Seek” (a program of iNaturalist), which allows you to identify species and store them in a list of your observations. It’s like magic to wave your phone over a species, find out what it is, and then learn more about it.

The options I have listed just scratch the surface of what’s out there, but will hopefully provide a good start. It’s a welcome chance to work together virtually to do something positive and learn neat stuff along the way.