Adding to knowledge of life on the prairie with iNaturalist and other apps

We look out over the land and describe it as “prairie.” And that’s enough for a lot of people who enjoy Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. The prairie is a mass of green in the spring and summer, golden tall grass in the fall, with rolling hillsides, wetland, birdsong, the occasional deer or frogs, turtles or bushy-tailed foxes.

That’s the wide angle. What about a closer look? What are the birds attached to that birdsong? What are those sectioned light-green, dark-green bamboo like stalks topped off with a tiny orange cone? Those dark pink flowers pushing through the low green plants?

There are garden areas where you might see identifying signs. But if your curiosity goes beyond the gardens, it turns out there are apps for those otherwise unlabeled. And many are free.

Many prairie enthusiasts know about the apps that help us identify birds and birdsongs, plants, trees and mammals. Merlin Bird ID and eBird from Cornell Lab, partnered with Audubon. iNaturalist and Seek. Our iPhones also identify any plant, bird or animal we care to photograph.

In a couple of trips to the Spring Creek Prairie, Merlin identified at least a couple dozen birds, including a northern bobwhite, an American golden plover, a Baltimore oriole, a goldfinch, and common yellowthroat. The iPhone identified a photo of a white-breasted nuthatch.

The iPhone also identified some of the plants along the trail: a plume thistle, milkweed, a purple poppy-mallow, a smooth horsetail, poison hemlock (beware!), and various grasses.

iNaturalist helped out with the identification of a pearl crescent butterfly, which it said had research grade status.

That’s the fun of these apps. With iNaturalist, your curiosity and observations can contribute to science. You can add to the living atlas of life on the prairie, and on the Earth, our big blue marble. The iNaturalist website tells us there have been more than three million observations that have contributed to biodiversity science and more than 500 species discovered or rediscovered by community scientists like us. One person in New Zealand recorded a frosted Phoenix moth that hadn’t been spotted by scientists in decades and was once thought to be extinct. A woman in Australia walking in her neighborhood recorded a new species of a mantis.

So be ready of whip out your phone and its apps next time you visit, and add to the knowledge of life -- all kinds -- on the Nebraska prairie.