Items11The creator’s order
  1. 1EBirdEBirdThe everyday workhorse of bird research. You go birding anywhere, for as long as you like, and submit a checklist of what you saw and heard; a ten-minute lap of the local park counts as much as a day at a refuge, as long as you note when, where and how long you looked. Those checklists add up. A…0
  2. 2INaturalistINaturalistThe one to pick if you notice beetles, frogs and spiders as much as birds. Photograph any wild animal, upload it with a location, and a community of naturalists helps confirm the species; agreed records become research-grade data that scientists can download. A single photo on a walk is a complete…0
  3. 3Great Backyard Bird CountGreat Backyard Bird CountThe easiest possible start. Over a four-day weekend each February, you watch birds for as little as 15 minutes, anywhere in the world, and enter what you counted through eBird or the Merlin app. Kitchen windows are fine. The next count runs February 12 to 15, 2027. The scale is the point: an…0
  4. 4Project FeederWatchProject FeederWatchMade for anyone with a bird feeder and a window. The season runs from November to April, and you count the birds at your feeder for as much or as little time as you like, weekly or just once all winter. Run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada, it costs $18 a year for US residents,…0
  5. 5Christmas Bird CountChristmas Bird CountThe world's longest-running bird count, going since 1900, and a sociable one. Each count happens on a single day between December 14 and January 5, inside a circle 15 miles across; a local leader called the compiler picks the day and organizes the volunteers, first-timers are often paired with…0
  6. 6Bumble Bee WatchBumble Bee WatchBees are hard to identify, which is exactly why this project suits beginners: you photograph a bumble bee, upload it with a location, take a guess at the species, and an expert checks your answer. A backyard flower bed on a summer lunch break is enough, and you learn the species as the…0
  7. 7Journey NorthJourney NorthThe best fit if you want to watch a migration happen in real time. Whenever you spot a monarch, a hummingbird or another migrant, you log the sighting, and it appears on live maps tracking the wave as it moves across the continent. One report on the first monarch of spring takes a minute. Those…0
  8. 8Big Garden BirdwatchBig Garden BirdwatchFor readers in the UK, this is the one everyone does. On a weekend in late January you spend an hour counting the birds that land in your yard, local park or even on a balcony, then send in the highest number of each species you saw at once. Running since 1979, it has turned a nation's…0
  9. 9Big Butterfly CountBig Butterfly CountThe UK's summer counterpart to a winter bird count, and possibly the most relaxing fieldwork there is. Between mid-July and early August you sit somewhere sunny for 15 minutes and record the butterflies and day-flying moths you see, using a free identification chart. You can do as many counts as…0
  10. 10HappywhaleHappywhaleTurns a whale-watching trip into research. Upload your photos of a humpback's tail and software matches the black-and-white pattern on the underside to a known individual, checked by a scientist; you then get to follow that whale's sightings over the years. The only time cost is the upload once you…0