Category Archives: Featured Opportunity

Bumble Bee Watch is a citizen science program whose mission is to track and better understand native North American bumble bee species. Participants can contribute by uploading photos of bumble bees that they have spotted, identifying the species or having the species identified by an expert, and then having their sighting verified so that it can contribute to bumble bee research. This research helps scientists gain a better understanding of bumble bee species distributions, especially for rare and endangered species. 

Click here to explore their data, learn more about the program, and discover more ways to get involved.

Mushroom Observer is a citizen science website where users record observations about mushrooms, help people identify mushrooms they aren’t familiar with, and expand the community around the scientific exploration of mushrooms (mycology). The site’s emphasis is on large fleshy fungi, however other fungi such as lichens, rust and molds as well as fungus-like organisms such as slime-molds are also welcome.

Learn more about this collaborative mushroom field journal on their website.

Having many newly planted trees and shrubs requires a lot of time and energy! Through the Upper Susquehanna Coalition’s Buffer Steward Program, interns and volunteers work to establish young forest areas within important riparian, or streamside, zones.  Throughout the Upper Susquehanna and Chemung watersheds there are young trees and shrubs planted along streams in parks, farms, preserves, and more in need of stewardship in the form of weeding, invasive species removal, standing up tree tubes, replacing protective material, and removing no longer needed protective material. If you are interested in volunteering with the Buffer Steward Program, please contact Lydia Brinkley, USC Buffer Coordinator, at lbrinkley@u-s-c.org.

Help scientists map fireflies by observing them in your own backyard! Firefly Watch, a collaboration between Mass Audubon and Tufts University researchers, hopes to learn about the geographic distribution of fireflies and what environmental factors impact their abundance with the help of citizen scientists.

Volunteers spend 10 minutes once a week observing their backyard or another nearby outdoor location to see whether fireflies are present and if so, identifying them by their flashing pattern. Firefly Watch provides all the information you need to get started, including ID tips and how to submit your observations.

Head to their website to learn more about the project and how to get involved!

Nature’s Notebook is an online plant and animal phenology monitoring program for citizen scientists to contribute to a national database used by scientists and resource managers. They provide training resources and data visualization tools for participants, and even have a leaderboard for top observers (if you’re inspired by a little competition!).

Data collection is divided by regional campaigns focused on specific species, and there are plenty of different campaigns to contribute to in NY, including

• Green Wave – monitoring flowering and leaf color in maples, oaks, and poplars
• Pesky Plant Trackers – reporting initial growth, flowering, and fruiting of wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed
• Pest Patrol – reporting sightings of insect pest species that cause harm to forest and agricultural trees

Check out the full list of campaigns here, and sign up on the campaign’s individual page to receive project updates and helpful tips. A great opportunity to contribute to citizen science, and become more attuned with the cycles of nature near you!

Hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is an invasive insect threatening New York’s native hemlock trees. Surveying for HWA can help limit both its damage and spread by contributing to research and informing management decisions.

MyHemlock is a great way for people to get involved in conservation, especially NY landowners. Volunteers choose one site on their property or in a local conservation area, and survey a group of hemlocks there twice a year (Nov/Dec and May/June). Surveying the same site over time helps researchers learn about:

• overall tree health
• HWA presence/absence
• severity of HWA infestations

on both a local and regional scale.

Want to get involved? Check out the MyHemlock website to learn more!