Tag Archives: crowdsourcing

Join the Flock: Crowdsourcing Bird Data for Climate Insights

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Poster for the 28th Great Backyard Bird Count, February 14 to 17, 2025, with a Spotted Towhee.

Let’s pause the venture capital talk and dive into something completely different—but just as exciting! The Great Backyard Bird Count is a fun, family-friendly way to help scientists monitor bird populations around the globe. It’s also an amazing example of using crowdsourcing and technology to advance science in an era of climate change.

Mark Your Calendar: The next Great Backyard Bird Count runs from February 14-17, 2025.

Why It’s Cool

  • Simple Citizen Science: Anyone can participate—just watch birds for at least 15 minutes and take notes.
  • Essential Climate Data: Tracking bird migration and population shifts offers key insights into our endangered planet.
  • Family-Friendly Fun: From curious kids to veteran birders, everyone can help gather valuable information.

How to Participate

  1. Pick a Spot—your backyard, a local park, or even your balcony.
  2. Watch & Count—log which bird species you see and how many.
  3. Submit Your Observations—use the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) website or the eBird app (iOS | Android) to share your sightings.

So if you’re looking for a quick break from work, join the Great Backyard Bird Count. You’ll enjoy the outdoors, discover new wildlife neighbors, and contribute crucial data to help tackle climate change! 🌎✨

Apps That Crowdsource Science While You Explore Nature

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iNaturalist logo, a green bird.

This post deviates from my usual topics, but as an avid hiker, I’ve been using an incredible mobile app called iNaturalist for a while. It’s a crowd-sourcing platform where people worldwide upload nature sightings—animals, birds, insects, plants, and fungi—and other users validate the species identification. Once a sighting is confirmed by at least two users, it becomes available to the scientific community for research. It’s a fantastic way to learn about species in nature while contributing to scientific research.

Recently, iNaturalist reached a milestone of 500,000 species—or more accurately, taxa—identified through the app, accounting for 23% of all known species on Earth—all thanks to nature-loving volunteers. You can read more about this achievement here: 500,000 Taxa on iNaturalist!.

If you’re into birding, I also recommend the Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Not only does it help identify birds by sight, but it also allows bird recognition by sound. This feature is truly amazing, especially when you’re in a forest filled with birdsong—it’s like uncovering a hidden world.

These tools make exploring nature even more rewarding—give them a try!