[cid:image002.jpg@01DCAFB7.ADE9AA00] Hello, If you or anyone in your network is passionate about wildlife conservation or wants to gain hands on experience in scientific research, consider joining one of the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's community science programs! These volunteer supported research programs help collect valuable information on imperiled and locally significant species including Western Purple Martins and Dungeness crabs, contributing to meaningful conservation efforts. The work would not be possible without the support of community members like you, and we hope you will sign up to participate. We have three community science programs that are currently recruiting volunteers: Spot the Swallows, Larval Dungeness Crab Surveys and Explore the Shore. Spot the Swallows is the zoo's 12 year long Purple Martin monitoring program. Volunteers attend a training at the zoo where we cover the life history of purple martins and the methods for our research. Volunteers practice identifying birds and conducting surveys, as well as meet each other and the zoo conservation team. After the training, volunteers schedule their own surveys and collect data on our local purple martins throughout the spring and summer. The training for this program is on March 21st, and volunteers are asked to perform at least 2 independent surveys each month while the birds are here (typically from mid-April to late August), though you are always welcome to survey more frequently. Each survey takes two hours. Surveys need to be conducted in the morning starting at sunrise, or in the evening starting two hours before sunset. Surveys can be conducted any day of the week, and surveyors are welcome to survey on their own or coordinate with other volunteers to survey in groups. We will also offer a few organized group survey times throughout the season. The data you collect is submitted to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, helping them to make better informed conservation decisions for this species. Applications for this program close on March 18th, 2026. Larval Dungeness Crab Surveys are a collaboration between Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Tacoma Public Schools' Science and Math Institute and the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group. As part of a network that spans Washington and British Colombia, we use a light trap to collect plankton off of the Point Defiance Boathouse, cataloguing the types and abundance of organisms we see. Volunteers attend a training at the zoo where we cover Dungeness Crab life history and how to identify common species of plankton. We then go down to the boathouse to practice checking the trap. The training is on April 11th, and the trap is checked each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10:00 am. Checking the trap usually takes an hour and a half, though may go longer or end early based on what we collect. Volunteers can attend on any days that work for their schedules, though we ask that you try to attend at least 3 surveys each month. Surveying starts on April 16th and runs until two weeks after we stop seeing Dungeness crabs, usually mid-September. The data we collect is sent to the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group, where it helps inform a variety of research and management programs. Applications for this program close April 8th, 2026. Explore the Shore is Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's ongoing beach walk program, based out of Owen Beach and which supports the Tiptoe through the Tidepool program at Titlow Beach. Naturalists in this program help visitors discover the amazing animals and habitats that call the South Puget Sound intertidal home. During scheduled public beach walk events and on select low-tide days, naturalists will help visitors explore the awe-inspiring life found along the shoreline, including sharing tips on how to identify beach animals and plants, explaining beach stewardship practices, showing how community science tools like iNaturalist mobile app to record marine life and inspire visitors to take actions that help protect the creatures and habitats of our local beaches. Trainings are offered on multiple dates, see the Point Defiance community science website for more information. Volunteer naturalists are asked to support at least two public programs. Applications for this program close May 17th, 2026. To sign up, or if you would like to know more, please visit pdza.org/ community-science/<https://www.pdza.org/discover/community-science/>. Thank you for your interest in supporting these community science programs: this work wouldn't be possible without the support of community members like you. Please feel free to email me back if you have any questions, Sam Hain, (He/Him) Conservation Specialist Zoological & Environmental Education Department Office (253) 404-3800 ext: 3765 Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, 5400 N. Pearl St, Tacoma, WA 98407 [cid:image001.png@01DB82CE.95B39610] website<http://www.pdza.org/> | facebook<http://www.facebook.com/PtDefianceZoo> | x<http://www.twitter.com/ptdefiancezoo> | instagram<http://www.instagram.com/ptdefiancezoo> Parks Tacoma acknowledges that we operate on the traditional homelands of Coast Salish tribes, who have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial and continue to do so today.