The longest running citizen science research project began 110 years ago, when an ornithologist named Frank Chapman proposed that instead of going out and competing with family and friends to see who could shoot the most birds–an actual holiday tradition in the late 1800’s–people should instead count the birds and send their tallies to the recently-formed Audubon Society.  (It’s with some dark humor that I imagine more than a few people asked, “So do we count ‘em before we shoot ‘em or after?”)  But of course the answer was to not shoot them at all, just count them.  And so began Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count. It’s happened every year since.

- Learn all about the Christmas Bird Count here.

- Edutopia has a comprehensive article about citizen science and various projects to participate in–written with K-12 in mind.

- Wetlands along the U.S. Gulf Coast provide winter habitat for millions of ducks and geese.  Here’s a HUGE flock of snow geese wintering in Texas.