Creek Critters

Audubon Naturalist Society

About this app

Use Creek Critters to:
• Find the tiny critters (macroinvertebrates) that live in your stream
• Identify the critters using a visual key with line drawings and photos
• Automatically create a report on your stream’s health based on your findings
• Map your stream report

A tool for education and community engagement!

Ratings and reviews

A fascinating app built upon a simple idea: by identifying macroinvertebrates (“Critters”) in your local waterway, you can determine water quality. Macros are small! But the app’s beautiful line drawings and helpful photos, plus its intuitive logic flow, will lead you towards a visual i.d. of the species in your sample dish. Has six legs? Two distinct tails? Well, that narrows down prospective species, and you keep going from there until you have a positive i.d. Identify enough species and you’ll have a general picture of the quality of the water the critters live in. To me, probably the coolest aspect of the app is that it is leverages technology to lead one back to the natural sciences. Knowledge is power. I hadn’t known my local creek was so full of critters, nor had I been aware that my local creek needs help. The critters told me that.