Creek Critters: Our New App, Designed to Help Monitor Local Streams
Searching for macroinvertebrates to identify with the Creek Critters app. Connecticut Audubon photo by Eleanor Robinson
May 19, 2016 – The Connecticut Audubon Society has launched a new mobile app designed to help Connecticut residents – especially youngsters – evaluate the health of their local streams by finding and identifying the creatures that live in them.
Called Creek Critters, the new app had its first field test on Saturday, May 14, when three dozen kids and adults gathered at the Old Saybrook Town Park to inaugurate it.
The new free app makes it fun and easy to collect and identify the macroinvertebrates (basically, large bugs) that help indicate whether a stream is in good shape or is impaired by pollution.
Users get a quick analysis of overall stream quality based on their findings. Because different species are adapted to living in waters with different levels of pollution, their presence or absence gives a quick snapshot of how well the stream is doing.
