Citizen Science
Help build our community knowledge of nature as you explore. These resources help you document what you find and share your observations with fellow naturalists, scientists, and conservation efforts.
iNaturalist
iNaturalist enables you to document your observations of the natural world, identify finds with the help of a worldwide community of naturalists, and contribute to biodiversity science. Sign up today and start observing.
The City Nature Challenge is an urban, competitive, international bioblitz. Philadelphia will be competing for a third year in 2021 from April 30 to May 3. As we compete we deepen our knowledge of Philly biodiversity and connect more of us to nature.
PARS is a citizen science project seeking to document herpetological biodiversity in Pennsylvania. You can sign up with PARS to contribute observations or add observations to the PARS project on iNaturalist.
Bring Nature Home
Help make your home safer and more welcoming for native wildlife.
Garden for Wildlife
Make sure your home garden or community garden is good habitat for wildlife. There are several wildlife certification programs out there, as well as programs at our local nature centers and arboretums, but you can start with the resources from the Penn State Extension, and of course check out A Child's Inspiration: Wildlife Discovery Garden.
Prevent Bird Window Collisions
About 600 million North American birds die from smacking into windows every year, and most of those are residential windows. The American Bird Conservancy has lots of resources about how to make your windows safer for birds. Also check out Bird Safe Philly, which works to make Philly buildings safer for birds.
Keep Cats Inside
House cats kill more than a billion birds each year, as well as even more reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. You can make a difference by keeping your cat inside, or by keeping it on a leash outside. Also be sure not to feed stray cats. Learn more from the American Bird Conservancy.
Manage Rodents without Poisons
Commonly used rodenticides, particularly chemicals that cause internal bleeding (anticoagulants), also kill wildlife. Rodents that eat poison bait can themselves be eaten by birds of prey, foxes and coyotes, and other predators. Those predators are then poisoned by the chemicals in their rodent prey. If you need to control rodent populations, make sure that you and any contractors you hire avoid these rodenticides. Learn more at the Safe Rodent Control Resource Center.