Snapshot Newsletter April 2026
Look out the nearest window: What do you see? We’re betting it’s the sure signs of spring: carpets of bloodroot and other ephemeral wildflowers, squirrel kits just starting to explore the world beyond their nest, swelling buds on trees and, let’s face it, probably a good deal of mud (“April showers” and all that). When the Snapshot Wisconsin team looks out our windows, we also see a new season for science. Spring is a great time to get involved or increase participation in research projects where anyone can contribute and everyone makes a difference.
In fact, April is Citizen Science month, and we’re celebrating with a newsletter devoted to some of the ways you can collaborate with scientists to explore and discover more about our natural world. That includes online events on April 22 when anyone can sign up to learn about classifying animals captured in trail camera images. Read on for more about that free event plus connecting with other citizen science projects and an amazing community of volunteers!
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2026 Snapshot Wisconsin Volunteer Recognition Event
Snapshot Wisconsin recently celebrated the volunteers who power the project with a virtual recognition event. In preparation, we asked trail camera hosts to share their favorite Snapshot Wisconsin photo, and they did not disappoint! We wanted to share a few here, along with a recap of the event and how to watch a recording of it.
Connecting With Other Community Science Researchers
Snapshot Wisconsin staff continually look for ways to improve the program for our volunteers and data needs. We recently attended the annual C*Sci (Citizen Science) Summit, which brings together community science professionals. Learn more about a few of the other interesting projects taking part in the event.
Although Snapshot Wisconsin is the largest trail camera project of its kind in the country, there are many other similar wildlife monitoring efforts across the United States and beyond. Learn about four other community science projects that utilize this technology, from Iowa to the Everglades.
Snapshot Wisconsin joins SciStarter, an online citizen science hub, to host a virtual event for Citizen Science Month on April 22. Project staff will share information about Snapshot Wisconsin; you’ll also get to check out trail camera photos and learn how to classify animals. Learn how to sign up today.
Volunteers make Snapshot Wisconsin possible, and we love hearing what motivated you to host a trail camera or take up photo classification, as well as special moments you've experienced as part of the Snapshot community. Learn how we plan to share some volunteer stories in future newsletters (and how you can participate!).
2026 Snapshot Wisconsin Volunteer Recognition Event
On Feb. 18, Snapshot Wisconsin celebrated the volunteers who power the project with a virtual recognition event. We discussed project updates, including the numbers of trail camera volunteers and cameras deployed, and how many hours volunteers have dedicated to checking gear and classifying photos. Staff also gave an overview of how photos become data that will support decision making. For example, information provided by Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera images has contributed to estimating bear population trends across the state.
We also discussed all things phenology, the study of cyclical seasons and how plants and animals respond. During this portion of the event, Snapshot staff introduced our partners for the new phenology project, including NASA, and showed how snow stakes and other project equipment will be used. We were excited to share some additional details about what’s on the horizon for this new endeavor. You can check out a recording of the entire volunteer recognition event on Vimeo [exit DNR].
In preparation for February’s event, we asked volunteer trail camera hosts to share their favorite Snapshot Wisconsin photo, and they did not disappoint! Forty volunteers responded with more than 60 photos. We couldn’t show all of them during the presentation, so we wanted to share a few more here.
Thanks to Dennis B., we have the good fortune to see this turkey tom’s full wingspan shining in the Rock County sunlight.
This stealthy bobcat was captured sneaking through the snow in Vilas County by a Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera managed by Casey S.
This striking image of a red-shouldered hawk in Marinette County shows how the bird got its name. Thank you, Tom J., for sharing!
Sarah G. shared this photo of a wide-eyed red fox from the camera she manages in Eau Claire County.
Of course, a Snapshot Wisconsin photo collection wouldn’t be complete without white-tailed deer, the animal most commonly seen on our trail cameras! This buck and his impressive rack showed up on a camera managed by Jane L. in Ozaukee County; the image below of a mama doe feeding her two fawns came to us courtesy of camera host Anne C. in Vernon County.
We’re so thankful for all the volunteers who manage Snapshot Wisconsin cameras, making photos like these possible. Checking cameras in all seasons requires dedication that’s as impressive as the images you’ve shared. Thank you, volunteers!
–Demetra Toniolo
Connecting With Other Community Science Researchers
Snapshot Wisconsin staff continually look for ways to improve the program for our volunteers and data needs. In November, a few of us returned to the annual C*Sci (Citizen Science) Summit hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum and UW–Madison Extension Dane County. This summit brings together community science professionals to network and discuss project management, methodologies, volunteer engagement strategies and more. In honor of April being Citizen Science Month, we would like to share just a few of the other interesting projects that were part of the summit:
The Wisconsin Rare Plant Monitoring Program gives plant enthusiasts an opportunity to conduct surveys for rare plants around the state, according to the project's website [exit DNR]. The information these volunteers collect is used to assess plant population trends during state and national conservation efforts. To learn more about the program and train online to participate, visit its website [exit DNR]. And if you spot a rare plant, don’t forget to tell the Wisconsin DNR by submitting this online rare species observation form.
The Water Action Volunteers (WAV) program aims to preserve, protect and restore Wisconsin’s 86,000-plus miles of streams and rivers by educating and empowering volunteers to gather high-quality stream data, useful for decision making and natural resource management, and share their data and knowledge, according to the project's website [exit DNR]. New volunteers can participate in baseline and aquatic invasive species monitoring. WAV also has a statewide aquatic invasive species monitoring event, Snapshot Day [exit DNR], on August 8; registration opens June 1.
The Wisconsin Bumble Bee Brigade (B3) is a community-based monitoring project coordinated by the Wisconsin DNR’s Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation. They partner with members of the public to conduct long-term monitoring of the state's native bumble bees. In Wisconsin and throughout the world, many bumble bee species are in decline—in fact, our state’s 20 recorded species include the rusty patched bumble bee, the first bumble bee to be listed as federally endangered. But a lot about the bees’ distribution, abundance and habitat preferences remains unknown. Working with volunteers, the Brigade hopes to fill some of those information gaps. Learn how to get involved at the project's website.
–Liv Gripko
Beyond Snapshot Wisconsin
Although Snapshot Wisconsin is the largest trail camera project of its kind in the country, there are many other similar wildlife monitoring efforts across the United States and beyond. And no wonder! Trail cameras are economical, efficient and, perhaps most importantly, a great way for people to learn about wildlife. Check out these four community science projects that utilize this technology!
Snapshot Dubuque Iowa
Just across the Mississippi from Wisconsin’s southwestern corner, the new wildlife monitoring project Snapshot Dubuque Iowa aims to understand how wildlife interacts with habitat, especially recently observed species, such as black bear and gray fox, which are considered rare in the area. The project provides an accessible and unique opportunity for people to engage with Dubuque County’s wildlife.
Jason Denlinger, a trained naturalist with Dubuque County Conservation, had wanted to start a trail camera-based monitoring project similar to Wildcam Gorongosa, a successful program he knew from his days working as a research manager at the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Learning about Snapshot Wisconsin at a conference motivated Denlinger to work with volunteers and create Snapshot Dubuque Iowa.
The project currently has 25 cameras deployed in five conservation areas in the county, but Denlinger says he’d like to see this number grow to cover additional conservation areas. Volunteers have quickly become involved with this one-county project since it launched in January on Zooniverse, the same online crowdsourcing community science platform that partners with Snapshot Wisconsin. Within 30 hours of its Zooniverse debut, Snapshot Dubuque had more than 500 volunteers. As of early March, more than 3,200 volunteers have joined. If you are interested in learning more about the project or classifying photos, visit Snapshot Dubuque Iowa’s Zooniverse project page [exit DNR].
Everglades Wildlife Watch
Trail cameras can be used to monitor wildlife in almost any ecosystem, not just the forests and prairies of the Midwest. In April 2024, biologists at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) needed help processing a large backlog of trail camera data collected during mammal surveys in southern Florida. The scientists were looking to characterize biodiversity across the region, but there were simply not enough resources to process the data. They recruited some online Zooniverse volunteers who classified the photos so quickly and enthusiastically that the Florida FWC decided to start a long-term trail camera monitoring program, Everglades Wildlife Watch.
Partnering with both camera host volunteers and organizations like the Palm Beach Zoo, Everglades Wildlife Watch has now collected data from more than 300 camera sites. The project has about a hundred cameras deployed at any given time but plans to expand in the next few months. One of the most exciting developments so far: Cameras have captured several photos of endangered Florida panthers. It’s estimated that there are only a few hundred of these animals left; the images, which are shared with biologists working to conserve the species, provide important information about the animals, such as locations and movement patterns.
Graysen Boehning, the statewide participatory science coordinator, said he’s been blown away by the community built by volunteers, both online and in the field. He especially appreciates how participants help each other identify species and share cool images. Early in the project, participants identified a juvenile crested caracara, a tropical raptor species, which led to the discovery of a new breeding site for the birds. Visit the Everglades Wildlife Watch’s Zooniverse project page [exit DNR] to help classify photos, check out the project’s data dashboard or explore photo collections.
Offal Wildlife Watching
Trail cameras can also be used to answer specific scientific questions and provide insight into complex food web relationships within a particular ecosystem in ways that might surprise you.
In 2018, University of Minnesota researcher Ellen Candler wanted to answer questions related to scavenger interactions, disease and the impact of human activity on animal behavior, so she started the Offal Wildlife Watching program. “Offal” is a term for the internal organs of a butchered animal. During deer hunting season in Minnesota, an estimated 3 million pounds of offal are discarded by hunters and left in the landscape. This is an accepted hunting practice, but very little research has been conducted on how various scavengers take advantage of this food source, and how it affects wildlife food webs.
In the Offal Wildlife Watching program, hunters volunteer to host a camera at a pile of offal, which has already led to unexpected discoveries. For example, a barred owl was spotted opportunistically hunting small rodents in a gut pile. While the team was not surprised by an owl scavenging offal, observing the bird using the pile as a hunting ground was new behavior worthy of a paper, which was published in the journal Food Webs in 2023 [exit DNR]. Grace Milanowski, program coordinator for the project, said they also have evidence of bobcats opportunistically hunting at gut piles.
Non-hunters can also get involved with the project. The Offal Wildlife Watching project has a small research team, and volunteer participation is the only way that the hundreds of thousands of photos collected each season can be analyzed in a timely manner. Help classify the activity captured in photos through the Offal Wildlife Watching Zooniverse program page [exit DNR].
Snapshot USA
These projects are just a few of the numerous trail camera monitoring programs in the U.S., which have collected billions of wildlife photos (Snapshot Wisconsin alone has more than 100 million images!). To harness the full power of this data, programs need to combine and compare data sets—but collaboration is difficult with busy, small teams and limited resources. To foster partnerships, reduce duplicated efforts and make data widely available, Snapshot USA [exit DNR] was started in 2019 by Bill McShea and Mike Cove of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and Roland Kays at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. As experienced mammalogists and camera trappers, they saw the need for a long-term, large-scale survey that crossed state borders. They knew the framework already existed and that this survey could be built through collaboration between existing trail camera programs. Through these partnerships, Snapshot USA annually collects wildlife data from across the country using a unified protocol, which is crucial for comparing data and adhering to the scientific method.
In the first year of Snapshot USA, more than 90 trail camera projects contributed data from 106 arrays of cameras. Seven years later, more than 200 projects contributed data from 225 arrays of cameras. Although roughly 75% of projects that contribute to Snapshot USA are affiliated with universities, data also comes from nonprofit organizations, government agencies (including Snapshot Wisconsin) and tribal institutions.
“The number of contributors has grown significantly since the launch of the project, and we hope it continues to grow for as long as possible,” said Brigit Rooney, survey coordinator for Snapshot USA, via email. She added: “Our goal is to focus future recruitment efforts on regions where we lack data coverage, such as eastern Oregon and eastern Wyoming.”
Snapshot USA participants around the country have detected several rarely seen mammals including Canada lynx, eastern spotted skunk and, in 2021, a single observation of the elusive wolverine. The network has also detected species with extremely restricted ranges, such as the critically endangered red wolf. Although the current total population is estimated to be fewer than 30 animals, limited to a small area of coastal North Carolina, Snapshot USA cameras have captured 150 images of red wolves in the area’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.
–Madeleine Soss
Animal Spot-a-thon!
Snapshot Wisconsin joins SciStarter [exit DNR], an online citizen science hub, to host a virtual event for Citizen Science Month! You have two opportunities to participate; the same program will be offered at both morning and evening times for your convenience. The online event will be similar to a livestream. Project staff will share information about Snapshot Wisconsin and take questions from participants; you’ll also get to check out trail camera photos and learn how to classify animals on Snapshot’s Zooniverse page [exit DNR]. No experience or special equipment required. All you need is a computer, tablet, or smartphone with Wi-Fi and curiosity! Recommended for ages 13 and up.
When: April 22, 10 a.m.-noon or 5-7 p.m. CDT
Where: Anywhere on the planet (online)
How to join: Register on Zoom
–Mackenzie Glasford
Share Your Snapshot Spirit
Volunteers make Snapshot Wisconsin possible, and we are grateful for your time and effort, and for being part of our community. So many trail camera hosts and image classifiers have shared wonderful stories with individual staff members about their Snapshot experiences. We’d like to highlight those memorable moments and motivations for joining through Volunteer Spotlights in future editions of this newsletter. These mini-profiles will introduce individual volunteers to the larger Snapshot Wisconsin community.
If you’re interested in being featured in a Snapshot Wisconsin Volunteer Spotlight, please complete this short online form and someone from the team will contact you. Please note: Our team is small and, depending on the volume of responses, it may take some time to contact everyone interested in participating. Thanks in advance for your patience and your interest—and for volunteering with Snapshot Wisconsin!