Want to be a scientist in your own backyard? You can!
On the weekend of August 21 and 22, 2026, Alabama is hosting the Great Southeast Pollinator Census and they need everyone's help! Girl Scouts can work with their family, friends or their troop to collect valuable information for scientists. The best part is it only takes a few minutes and can be done in your own backyard!
Ready to get started? Here's what you need to do:
- Pick your pollinator! Pick a plant to monitor during the designated weekend of August 21 - 22. If you do not have an ideal spot in your yard, you can visit a local park, botanical garden, zoo, green space or recreational area to make your count in.
- Next, watch your plant for 15 minutes during the designated weekend. Count the number of insects that visit the plant and log those numbers on a piece of paper. If the selected plant is too large to watch at one time, select a 2-by-2-foot section of the plant to count
- Finally, upload your count sheets to gsepc.org by September 1.
Ta da! You are now an official citizen scientist!
The annual pollinator count began in Georgia in 2017 and now includes thousands of participants from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The data collected by citizen scientists is crucial to helping professionals spot trends in pollinators, such as seeing specific pollinator groups outside of their normal region. It also helps to identify how weather is affecting pollinator populations depending on species.
A patch order form will be posted in the coming days!