Every June is Great Outdoors Month, a time to recommit to celebrating and protecting our natural world. As the weather warms up in the Northern Hemisphere, take advantage of the parks and other natural areas around you for both learning and recreation.
Before you head outdoors, load up your mobile device with apps to aid in your adventures. Interested in plant or animal identification? Check out Leafsnap, which can help identify plants based on the shape of their leaves, buds, or flowers. The Project Noah app is similar to a mobile field guide, which allows users to submit their own photos of unknown plants or animals to the community for identification. iNaturalist is similar in concept.
For those interested in citizen science, check out the Journey North app to help track species' migration patterns.
At night, turn your eyes skyward and help NASA track meteors for their citizen science project with the Meteor Counter app. Or use the GoSkyWatch Planetarium app to help identify different stars, planets, and constellations visible in your part of the world.
For more lessons, tools, and resources for exploring the outdoors, check out our Celebrating Our National Parks Collection.
Do you have any plans for Great Outdoors Month?
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON AAAS SCIENCE NETLINKS.