Community Science
Black-capped Chickadee. Photo by Cathy Bennington/Audubon Photography Awards.
Help Birds and Their Ecosystems
You don't need to be a formal scientist to contribute to our understanding of the natural world. GEAS supports multiple community science projects in our area and welcomes our members to participate in all of them. Explore community science opportunities below.
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Project Feeder Watch
Project FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, and other outdoor areas. You don’t even need a feeder! Count your birds for as long as you like on days of your choosing, then enter your counts online. You'll be contributing to a continental data-set of bird distribution and abundance.
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Climate Watch
Help scientists find out how birds are responding to climate change by observing birds locally and contributing information to National Audubon’s Climate Watch Program. Volunteers will commit to one survey day to look for birds where Audubon’s climate models project they should be.
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Christmas Bird Count
For three weeks each winter, people across North America work together to take a snapshot of bird populations. Anyone can participate, and contribute to a data set that fuels science all year!
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iNaturalist
Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed. We share your findings with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use your data. All you have to do is observe.