| While lumbering herds of elephants and stalking | | | | measurements (you don't need a ruler, just |
| Bengal tigers capture the imagination of most | | | | estimate.) For further learning, try writing at least |
| animal lovers, we often neglect the nature closest | | | | one question about each object. |
| to us. Sometimes we need a reminder that we | | | | Now stand up and draw what comes into view at |
| are part of a habitat, and that the miracle of life | | | | eye level. Label the object and describe what it's |
| exists under our very noses. Educator and | | | | doing, or what it is part of. |
| naturalist Carolyn Duckworth has said, "If you | | | | Look up from where you are standing. Record |
| want to understand and become connected to | | | | what you see above, and how it makes you feel. |
| your environment, keeping a field journal is one of | | | | Nature journals are not just for artists. Don't |
| the fastest ways to accomplish this goal." | | | | worry if your renderings look like scribbles. The |
| Studies have found that children today consider | | | | point is that you are connecting to your |
| nature to be somewhere else-on TV, videos, in | | | | environment. |
| the National Geographic only. But in reality, a | | | | Some questions you may use to direct your |
| genuine connection to wildlife around the globe is | | | | journaling, and deepen your connection to the life |
| only an extension of a connection to the earth | | | | around you are: |
| right where you stand. Good naturalists don't gain | | | | What are the trees in my neighborhood? When |
| their knowledge from formal schooling, they get it | | | | do they bloom? What do their fruits and seeds |
| in the field, by direct observation. And this | | | | look like? What insects use the trees? When do |
| observation can start right in your backyard or at | | | | they shed their leaves? How do their seeds get |
| the park down the street. | | | | to new sites to grow? |
| This article will offer pointers for keeping a nature | | | | What birds live in my neighborhood? What is their |
| journal. It draws heavily on the program laid out in | | | | activity at various times of the day? How do |
| the book Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a | | | | different species of birds interact with each |
| Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around | | | | other? |
| You by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth. | | | | What kinds of insects gather around the light at |
| The tools needed to start nature journaling are | | | | my doorway each night throughout the year? |
| simple and inexpensive. One needs a notebook | | | | When and where do mushroom species appear in |
| and something to write with. Experimentation will | | | | my neighborhood? |
| reveal your personal preferences for lined or clear | | | | Using questions like these you may find yourself |
| paper, binding type, size, and lead or ink. As you | | | | discovering both the landscape you live on, and |
| gain experience you may add a small set of | | | | the landscape that lives in you. Those who keep a |
| watercolor paints or colored pencils. If you use | | | | journal know that journaling is a form of |
| pencils you may need a sharpener, or you can | | | | journeying, and a well-kept journal can become a |
| use mechanical pencils, which yield more | | | | treasured record of where we have been, what |
| technical-looking drawings. You may also use a | | | | we have seen, and what we have felt as we've |
| collecting bag for objects that you want to draw | | | | interacted with the world. |
| and study indoors. (Although you should collect | | | | You don't have to visit the glaciers of Alaska, or |
| only fallen objects, where permission is given). | | | | India's jungles, or the savannahs in Africa to |
| There are no hard and fast rules for nature | | | | connect to Mother Earth, although who of us |
| journaling, although entering observations using a | | | | wouldn't jump at the chance? Start by putting |
| heading is good practice. For your heading you | | | | roots down right where you stand. |
| may include your name, the date and time (it | | | | "It seems only natural that we should value most |
| doesn't have to be an accurate clock time), the | | | | what we are in contact with everyday...yet the |
| place, weather conditions, your first impressions, | | | | reverse is often true. We appear to place a |
| wind direction (use a compass for this), and cloud | | | | higher value on rare animals and plants and |
| patterns and cloud cover. | | | | spectacular views and far-flung places. Of course |
| To get started you may find this sequence of | | | | both are important because they fulfill different |
| observations helpful, as it gets you in the habit of | | | | needs. But the every day places desperately |
| observing all around you: | | | | need our attention-partly because they are |
| Start by looking at the ground. Get a close up | | | | changing so fast, and not always for the better, |
| view of individual objects. Try to draw one or | | | | and also because tremendous benefit is to be |
| more in your journal, labeling each item. Take no | | | | gained from a personal involvement with your |
| more than five minutes per object, and give size | | | | own locality. |