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Resources
Welcome to Budburst, a national network of community scientists dedicated to monitoring plants as the seasons change. Let’s get to work.
Learn How to Observe
Watching plants and reporting what we see is the core work of Budburst. However, it’s much more than taking a picture and uploading it to our database. Three key factors make up and drive the observation process. Click the links below to learn more.
The basics, the history, and where it stands today.
What they are, why they matter, and what they mean for you.
Data grouped together based on the similarities in their phenological events.
Observe Your Plant
Ready to get started? Click the links below to begin making your observations.
Report observations of a plant in your backyard, school, or local park.
Join one of our focused projects and contribute your unique data.
Information about our partners will be coming soon!
Find ten local plants for you to observe, recommended by your local Budburst partner.
If your plant isn’t on the Budburst Species list, don’t worry. You can still report observations for any plant. Simply add a new plant when submitting any Budburst observation. But make sure you choose the right group!
Identify Your Plant
To collect Budburst data, you need to know what plant you're looking at! Click the links below to explore interactive online plant identification keys for non-experts:
Arbor Day Foundation: What tree is that?
Discover Life, IDnature Guides
Go Botany (plants of New England)
Is your favorite online key to identify plants missing from this list? Email us at info@budburst.org!
Observation Protocols
Budburst has three different observation report types that include specific data: plant phenology, pollinator, and milkweed-monarch. Download an observation sheet below to record your data directly.
Observation sheets
To begin the process of reporting your observations, log into your Budburst account. To register with Budburst and create your account, follow these steps:
Create Your Budburst Account
Click the "Register" button in the top right corner of any page in this website or the link above to set up your account. You must be at least 13 years of age to create your own Budburst account.
Log Into Your Budburst Account
Log in from the Budburst accounts page or click the "Login" button in the upper-right corner of any page in this website. Your Dashboard provides a summary of your activities in Budburst.
Submit a New Observation
From any page on the web app click 'Add observation'. Add a photo of your plant or choose no photo and type a plant name in. If your plant does not show up in the Plant dropdown, type the name of the new plant (either common or scientific name) and select or press enter to add this plant to your personalized plant list. Enter the location of the plant, add a nickname, and choose the type of observation you are making.
Download Data
Budburst data is available for all Budburst members to download and use. Once registered and signed-in, you can search by species, states, dates, and other criteria. You can also download data sets that match your specific criteria, with the option to have it conveniently compiled into a Microsoft Excel or CSV file.
Do your part for our planet. Join Budburst today.
Becoming a part of Budburst is easy—and important. When we all contribute to conservation efforts like this one, we’re one step closer to preserving the planet we share.
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