Ferguson-Florissant School District

Wildlife Watch is a national, year-round, nature watching program for all ages. It’s a simple and fun way to learn about the wildlife in your neighborhood. You’ll also help track the health and behavior of wildlife and plants species nationwide. Participants visit the Wildlife Watch website before they go outside to review possible species you might see; then back inside, return to the site and enter your data online. You can also participate by sharing your wildlife stories online and by joining their Flickr group to post your pictures. Be sure and invite your friends and family to participate too!

Monarchs are amazing butterflies that fly thousands of miles to spend the winter in the mountains of Mexico. Assist scientists by tagging and releasing them; there’s still much to learn about their journey. With their studies, scientists hope to further interest in the conservation of critical habitat, both in the US and Mexico.

Through field observations, citizen scientists track the global study of wildlife migration as well as seasonal change and sunlight. Most people know them for their study of monarch migration, but you can also study American Robins, Bald Eagles and hummingbirds.

FrogWatch USA, Saint Louis Zoo's FrogWatch Chapter
In this citizen science program, volunteers learn about wetlands and the breeding calls of frogs and toads in our area. You’re required to monitor a site for a specific period of time during the breeding season. Gathering this information leads to finding practical and workable ways to stop wetland and amphibian decline. Some training is involved; see the website for training dates.  This website is specific to the St. Louis area, for more information about the national program - FrogWatch USA, check out their homepage: http://www.aza.org/frogwatch/

DID YOU FEEL IT?!
Since the early 1990s, the magnitude and location of an earthquake have been available within minutes on the Internet. Now, as a result of work by the U.S. Geological Survey and with the cooperation of various regional seismic networks, people who experience an earthquake can go online and share information about its effects to help create a map of shaking intensities and damage. Such “Community Internet Intensity Maps” (CIIMs) contribute greatly toward the quick assessment of the scope of an earthquake emergency and provide valuable data for earthquake research. Follow the link above, then click on the orange “Report Unknown Event” tab and fill in the blanks. Hopefully, we won’t be entering data on this site, but it also has a lot of earthquake info, including historical events and how to be prepared for the big one!

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Cornell Lab has a birding project for them all! Check out this web page to join one, or all of these great projects:
- Celebrate Urban Birds – assesses the value of different sized green spaces for birds
- eBird – a continent-wide online checklist for bird sightings year round
- Great Backyard Bird Count – help create a snapshot of winter bird populations
- NestWatch – help scientists track the breeding success of birds across North America
- Project FeederWatch – count birds at your feeders for science (Teacher’s, there’s also a version for the   classroom)
- The YardMap Network – builds online communities to investigate the impacts of bird-friendly        
  and carbon-neutral practices in backyards, community gardens, and parks

If you love birds and want to make a difference in science and bird conservation, consider
joining one of these projects. They’re easy, fun and can be done right in your own backyard.
- Christmas Bird Count – the first count was done in 1900, making this the longest-running      
  wildlife census of all citizen science programs! This covers a 2 week period that usually coincides with     our winter Recess.
- Great Backyard Bird Count – this is a four-day event in February. This is a joint partnership between
  Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (below),
- Hummingbirds at Home – this is a new citizen science initiative from Audubon that will help scientists
  understand how climate change, flowering patterns and feeding by people are impacting          
  hummingbirds.