Calling all kid scientists! Join Ranger Nikki to learn how you can contribute to scientific study by documenting butterflies, bugs, birds, plants and more – any day and every day! This year, we are excited to have our citizen science programs be a part of Citizen Science Month 2026, which is an official partner of America 250, the campaign to celebrate the United States of America’s semiquincentennial anniversary. We start at the Nature Center where Ranger Nikki will introduce you to iNaturalist, a platform that allows ordinary people to make extraordinary contributions to the scientific community by uploading nature observations to a global database. You can double your impact on the initiative of reaching 2.50 Million Acts of Science by reporting your iNaturalist observations to SciStarter, an organization that connects people to citizen science projects, citizen scientists and resources. Create an account on SciStarter.org, an ASU research affiliate, and add your iNat username to settings (under “Affiliation Integration”). Do this once, and all your observations count!
Bring your phone or tablet to take photos and be sure to download the iNaturalist app and create an account at home beforehand, as there is limited connectivity in the park. (Seek by iNaturalist is an alternative that is geared toward younger users). After the introduction, we will walk to the Pollinator Garden, learn about what we see and make our observations. We will also record on a paper monitoring checklist any butterflies we see so that they can be added to eButterfly, another citizen science project, to officially log our observations as a permanent record for the park. The photo observations you make can be uploaded to the iNaturalist/Seek app right away or later at home. This exercise will get you ready for the City Nature Challenge, where Team Phoenix will compete with cities around the world to upload on iNaturalist the greatest number of species on from April 24-27. The terrain includes an asphalt roadway, concrete sidewalk and compacted gravel in the Garden. The roundtrip distance to the Garden and back to the Nature Center is less than one mile. Wear closed-toe shoes, sun-protective clothing and a hat for our walk to the Pollinator Garden. Be sure to bring plenty of water. Make sure your phone or device is fully charged. Restrooms and water are available at the Nature Center.
MEETING LOCATION: Nature Center
Limit 35 participants. This includes school-age students, parents/adults and younger siblings. To register, please call the Estrella Nature Center at (602) 506-2930 ext. 6 with your name, phone number and number of people attending. If you find you cannot attend a program after you have registered, please call the Nature Center ASAP so we may contact those on the waiting list. Registration for this program will close on 4/7/26.