Like a lot of people I’ve been doing a fair number of weekend hikes, but on this past Sunday’s outing I found myself doing something I usually wouldn’t: bending down to turn over a small trailside log.

What for? To see if critters are getting active of course. I was in training, you see. A local nature center was teaching amateurs like me how to be citizen scientists.

“Always roll the log toward you,” the naturalist said, so anything that wants to run away has a clear escape route on the opposite side.

Useful advice anytime. But it might come in handy right away – for me and maybe you too. A worldwide City Nature Challenge is happening from April 30 to May 4, with anyone in participating cities on six continents invited to document the plants, animals, and  insects that are living wild there.

Find wildlife. Take a picture. Share.

Those are the basic instructions. For many people this will mean using a smartphone app called iNaturalist that makes the process easy. Online tutorials and pep talks can guide the uninitiated.

The results can end up being used by scientists to track changes in urban environments – valuable alongside other research at a time of significant challenges for biodiversity worldwide. I’m expecting simpler benefits as well, in the joy of observing and learning. Even about things that creep and crawl.