Hit the trails this winter for the Annual Christmas Bird Count! This National Audubon Society project is the nation's longest-running community science bird project. Small groups hike assigned routes to count every bird they see and hear to gather data to help determine bird populations across North America. 

This project takes place annually in mid-to-late December.

Throughout the summer season, Cincinnati Nature Center volunteers survey patches of milkweed and record the presence of monarch eggs and larvae. The volunteers have surveyed a total of 28 different milkweed patches; 24 have been surveyed every year (excluding 2020) since 2015.

At the end of the season, the data is sent to the Monarch Joint Venture (in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum) as part of the Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project.

Each summer, we actively monitor over 100 Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) nest boxes! Nest boxes provide a safe nesting habitat for local songbirds. Many songbirds rely on nest boxes due to declining natural nesting habitat. The Eastern bluebird is one species that has been impacted by this loss.

To help the population rebound, volunteers strategically place nesting boxes to attract Eastern bluebirds. These trained volunteers monitor nest boxes for the presence and breeding success of native cavity-nesting birds, including Eastern bluebirds, and add new nest boxes in areas that have successful nests.

Additionally, we send our monitoring data to the Ohio Bluebird Society to contribute to their mission.

From April–October, a group of dedicated volunteers search for resident and migrant butterflies as part of the Nature Center's oldest community science program! Volunteers have been recording butterfly populations at the Nature Center for more than 20 years, building one of the few long-term butterfly datasets in the country.

Each year, the data collected at Rowe Woods is sent to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for their records and to be managed by the Ohio Lepidopterists Society.

As part of Project FeederWatch, a dedicated group of volunteers gather twice weekly during the winter months to count all birds that gather at the feeding stations outside the Rowe Visitor Center viewing windows. Data compiled is submitted to Cornell Lab of Ornithology for use in long-term bird studies.

This gathering takes place on Thursdays and Fridays beginning November 14 until April 4, 9:30–11 am (except Thanksgiving).