Citizen Science at the Norlands
Over the past few years, Norlands has taken part in several citizen science initiatives.
The first is a project on iNaturalist, a global platform where people photograph and document wild plants, animals, birds, insects, fungi, and other living things.
The second is a hotspot on eBird, a platform run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology where birdwatchers record and share their sightings.
Although both platforms are used worldwide, they also include smaller, local projects and hotspots that allow communities to build more focused datasets. While Androscoggin County already has many observations, relatively little data had been collected from the town of Livermore.
That’s part of what makes the Norlands projects so meaningful. By contributing observations, you can help create a growing record of the plants, animals, and fungi that call Norlands home. Over time, these observations can help scientists, conservationists, and future visitors better understand how local biodiversity changes through the seasons and from year to year.
Want to become a citizen scientist yourself? Read on!
iNaturalist
iNaturalist can be used either in a web browser or through the mobile app, available for both Android and iPhone. For most people, the app is the easiest way to get started.
Begin by downloading the app to your phone. When you first open it, you’ll likely be guided through a brief introduction to its features (shown below).
As advertised, you can use iNaturalist to identify almost any living thing you encounter, either by taking a photo or uploading one you’ve already taken. The app uses image recognition to suggest possible identifications based on your photo, which you can then review and confirm before submitting your observation. If you’re not 100% sure about the identification, don’t worry—simply submit your best guess, and after you upload it, members of the iNaturalist community can help identify or confirm what you’ve found.
Once an observation has been confirmed by enough users, it is deemed research-grade. These observations become part of a global biodiversity database used by scientists, conservation organizations, educators, and nature enthusiasts. Researchers have used iNaturalist data to track species distributions, monitor invasive species, document rare plants and animals, and study how wildlife responds to environmental change. Check out this article to learn more about the amazing scientific discoveries made possible through iNaturalist observations!
If you’re using iNaturalist while exploring the Norlands property, your observations will automatically be added to the Norlands project. Every sighting counts, and helps to build a more complete picture of the biodiversity of Livermore.
eBird
Like iNaturalist, eBird can be accessed through a web browser or the free mobile app, available for both Android and iPhone. The app is the easiest way to record birds while you’re out exploring.
Unlike iNaturalist, which can help identify almost any living thing from a photo, eBird will not identify birds for you. The app works best when users are reasonably confident in their own identifications. That said, you don’t need to be an expert to contribute! For example, if you’re new to birding, the Merlin Bird ID app (also developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) is an excellent companion to eBird. Merlin can help identify birds by their appearance, songs, and calls, making it a great tool for learning. Of course, like any identification tool, it isn’t perfect, so it’s always a good idea to review its suggestions before adding birds to an eBird checklist.
To get started with eBird, download the app and create a free account.
Whenever you go birdwatching, tap Start Checklist and record every bird species you see or hear during your outing. Complete checklists provide the most useful information for scientists because they help show not only which birds were present, but also which ones were not detected.
If possible, try to record all of the species you hear and see, along with the number of individuals of each. But if you aren’t sure exactly what you’ve encountered, don’t worry –– eBird lets you record birds at a various levels of specificity. For example, if you know you’ve seen a warbler but can’t tell which kind, you can enter is generally as “New World warbler species.”
You don’t have to count every bird perfectly, either. Just enter your best estimate of how many individuals you observed. If you can’t make a reasonable estimate, you can always enter “X” in the amount section to indicate that the species was present but not counted.
When you’re finished, review your checklist and submit it. If you’re at the Norlands, be sure to select “Norlands Living History Center” as your location. As of 2026, our eBird hotspot is still very new, and every checklist helps us learn more about the birds that visit and live on our property throughout the year!