Possibly of interest to gifted adults... also to children for field trips, high school students looking for a project, or college students seeking an interesting individual or group activity: myriad opportunities to participate in citizen science.

There are several groups which seek to coordinate efforts, or volunteers may contact a project directly, in an area of their interest.

https://www.citizenscience.gov/

https://www.citizenscience.org/

Citizen science gathers anecdotal evidence: observations and experiences.

Just a few examples:

bird count -
https://www.birdcount.org/participate/,
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/citizen-science-be-part-of-something-bigger/

nasa -


emerald ash borer (Walter D. Koenig, et al, 2013) -
https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2013/nrs_2013_koenig_002.pdf

projects (Hiromi Korobi, et al, 2015) -
mentions scientific value of the data, data quality, reliability, accuracy, peer-reviewed scientific articles and publications, and that the data provided may be used to inform resource management and strategy -
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11284-015-1314-y

DD did this on the way and back on our Antarctica trip. They counted birds. It was a fun activity since it was a 2 day trip each way. And also to learn the birds there.