The weather is finally getting nicer, and we love to take walks and go on small hikes. Something that has made hikes a little more fun for my nine-year old son and me is the iNaturalist app and website. We bring the app along on our hike, and it is so fun and interactive.

We take a picture of a plant, animal, even birds that we see and try to identify it through the iNaturalist app. We can also see where other species of these plants and animals are throughout the Capital Region. Albany Pine Bush has a dashboard set up where you can see what other users recently recorded there. It's educational without seeming too much like "school."

There are hundreds of observations listed already for Albany Pine Bush, so you can hike along and try to find them yourselves. As you record your own observations, other naturalists can add to your observations and the information could be used by scientists and resources managers.

Here are three observations recently recorded at Albany Pine Bush:

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You can use the iNaturalist app anywhere, and it’s fun to see if some of these same species of plants and animals are all around the Capital Region from the Albany Pine Bush trails to the Adirondacks.

We got started by just downloading the app and exploring, but Albany Pine Bush also has this tutorial if you'd like a more in-depth introduction:

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