Audubon Hummingbirds @ Home
This is an app that is available on Android and the App Store. It allows individuals to report hummingbird sightings so data can be used by Audubon researchers. It also provides sighting maps based on species and date ranges. The zoom to see local reports can be slow, but presumably because it is still new.

Christmas Bird Count
The CBC starts on Dec 14th and runs through Monday, Jan 5th (the same dates every year.) This event started out as a hunting contest, but with the decline of populations and the advent of real conservation efforts, it easily translated into an event of counting bird species. Since it is the longest running citizen science program, the value lies in the years of data and less in a one-time count. Long-term data is able to reveal trends that short-term counts could never encompass. Important efforts and information are gained from this particular count. Many local parks provide a one-day event in order to involve families.

Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)
This project teams Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society together. It allows those that submit observations to see what others are submitting around the world. This Count is great for anyone to do from home with as little as a fifteen-minute observation. Great for kids to break into the world of detailing the birds in their own backyard. It is free, but it does require an account to be created to keep track of your birds. This is the same program used for eBird.

Merlin Bird ID app by Cornell

Merlin is designed to be a birding coach for bird watchers at every level. Merlin asks you the same questions that an expert birder would ask to help solve a mystery bird sighting. Notice that date and location are Merlin’s first and most important questions. It takes years of experience in the field to know what species are expected at a given location and date. Merlin shares this knowledge with you based on more than 800 million sightings submitted to eBird from birders around the world.

NestWatch

This is a nationwide monitoring program designed to track status and trends in reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch and how many hatchlings survive. Anyone can contribute, so it is great for the whole family. Volunteers become a certified NestWatcher by following directions on the website. Once a nest is found, visit every 3-4 days and record what you see. This data helps scientists track breeding bird populations and how they may be changing as a result of climate change, habitat degradation and more.

Project FeederWatch
This is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. This data helps scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. Anyone can participate. Fee is $15 (the project is supported entirely on these fees.)

ebird

eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world. A collaborative enterprise with hundreds of partner organizations, thousands of regional experts, and hundreds of thousands of users, eBird is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.