As part of Nature’s Notebook, you are invited to observe both plants and animals. Observing phenology is very similar for both, however, because animals move around and plants do not, there is one important difference in the way we ask you to observe the two groups:

For plants: Observe the same individual plants each time you visit your site. For example, you should observe the same red maple in your back yard all through the year.

For animals: Create a checklist of animal species and look for all of them each time you visit your site. For example, if your checklist has robins, wood frogs, and tent caterpillars on it, you should record whether or not you see or hear those species anywhere in your site each time you visit.

"How to Observe" Nature's Notebook Plant and Animal Phenology Handbook (pdf )

Overview

Whether you choose to observe both plant and animals or only one or the other follow these detailed steps to set up your observation program on the ground (and see the Frequently Asked Questions page for more information):

• Select a site
• Select plant and animal species
• Select individual plants
• Mark your sites and individual plants
• Get organized
• Record your observations
• Enter your observations online

Select a site

A site is the area within which you will look for your chosen animal species, and which encompasses any plants you choose to observe. When you select a site, such as your yard or a nearby natural area, consider these guidelines:

Convenience: You will be visiting your site(s) regularly, so it should be convenient and easily accessible.

Representative location: As much as is practical, the selected site(s) should be representative of the environmental conditions for your area. More...

Uniform habitat: The conditions of your selected site(s) should be relatively uniform across the site. If you would like to observe two adjacent but distinct habitats, please document them as separate sites. For example, a wetland adjacent to or surrounded by a drier grassland or forest should be documented as a separate site from the grassland or forest.

Appropriate size: A site should be no larger than 15 acres (6 hectares or 250 x 250 meters), a square with sides the length of 2 ½ football fields. A site can certainly be smaller than this, and larger areas can be divided into multiple sites. More...

Proper permission: If you do not own the property where the site is located, you must get permission from the landowner before marking any plants or reporting the site location information (such as latitude/longitude coordinates). More...

Select plant and animal species

Choose one or more species from our list of plant and animal species. For plants, we encourage you to select at least one plant calibration species. For animals, we recommend that you select several species that occur in your local area or in your state. More...

Make sure that you have correctly identified the plant and animal species at your site before reporting your observations for those species online. More...

Select individual plants

At your site(s) select one or more individuals of each of your chosen plant species to observe. Choose plants that appear to be healthy, undamaged, and free of pests and disease. If you want to observe several individuals of the same species, try to select individuals that are not direct neighbors, but are still growing in a similar environment. More...

For annuals (which only survive one growing season) and biennials (which survive for two growing seasons), avoid choosing the first or the last seedling to emerge in the spring since they may not be representative of the larger population at your site. More...

Mark your site and individual plants

Regardless of whether you are observing only plants, only animals, or both, you will make your observations repeatedly at the same site(s) over time. You will want to somehow mark your site(s) so that you can find it again in the future. More...

Because plant monitoring requires that you observe the same individual plants repeatedly, you will also need to mark each plant so that you can find it on each visit. We recommend that you mark each individual plant with a unique label. For example, you could mark pieces of flagging tape with “red maple-1”, “red maple-2”, etc. and then tie them to each of the red maples you are observing. More...

Remember that if you do not own the property where your site is located, you must get permission from the landowner to put up any markers.

Get organized

To make your phenology observations you will need the following items:

• Phenophase definitions and instructions: Check the profile page for each of your selected plant and animal species to see the list of phenophases for those species and instructions on how to recognize them.
• Datasheets, clipboard, pencil: You can download and print a datasheet for each of your plant or animals from the profile page for that species, or generate a personalized datasheet packet for your Nature’s Notebook Home page. More...
• Binoculars (optional, helpful for observing animals as well as phenophases in tall trees)
• Marking equipment for first trip: Flagging, markers, stakes, plastic tags, popsicle sticks

record plant obs training video

Record your plant and animal observations

Visit your site(s) as often as possible. At least once a week is good, but several times a week or even once a day is even better during times of the year when things are changing quickly (for example, spring and fall). More...

For plants: Visit each of your individual plants and check their phenophases. For each visit when you make an observation, record the date and time on your plant phenophase datasheet, and for each phenophase, circle one of the following choices:

• Yes (y) – if you saw that the phenophase is occurring
• No (n) – if you saw that the phenophase is not occurring
• Uncertain (?) – if you were not certain whether the phenophase was occurring
• Do not circle anything if you did not check for the phenophase

It is very important to record this information, even if nothing has changed since your last visit! Knowing when a plant is not in a given phenophase is just as important as knowing when one is. More...

For most plant phenophases you can also report on the intensity (or abundance) that you observe, like the number of open flowers you see or how close to full size the new leaves have grown. Phenophase intensity choices vary by species and can be found on the profile page for each species. More...

For animals: Look and listen for all of the species on your animal checklist. You can do this by one of three methods:

• walking (a single pass or transect through your site)
• stationary (standing or sitting at a single point)
• area search (multiple passes through your site, possibly crossing the same point more than once)

Try to spend about the same amount of time looking for animals at each visit. We recommend three minutes as a standard, but you can spend as much or as little time as you like. You will probably not see most, or any, of the animals during each visit, which is ok. More...

For each visit when you make an observation, record the amount of time you spent looking and which of the three methods you used. Record whether or not you saw or heard each animal species on your animal checklist, and for each animal you did see or hear, you will need to fill out the animal phenophase datasheet. On this datasheet record the date and time, and for each phenophase, circle one of the following choices:

• Yes (y) – if you saw or heard that the phenophase is occurring
• No (n) – if you saw or heard that the phenophase is not occurring
• Uncertain (?) – if you were not certain whether you saw or heard that species or that phenophase
• Do not circle anything if you did not check for the species or phenophase

It is very important to record this information, even if you did not see a particular animal species! Knowing when an animal is not present, or when an animal is not in a given phenophase is just as important as knowing when it is. More...

For most animal phenophases you can also report on the intensity (or abundance) that you observe, like the number of individuals you see feeding or the degree of overlap in frog calls. Phenophase intensity choices vary by species and can be found on the profile page for each species. More...

If a phenophase, like flowering or nest building, begins and ends while you were not observing, you can make a note of it in the comments section. More...

If you are watching for a phenophase and it does not seem to be starting when you expect it would, continue to watch for it and record that it is not occurring. This could mean the phenophase is occurring later or not at all in a given year, and this could be very valuable information. More...

Once a phenophase has ended you should continue to look for it and record whether or not it occurs again. Sometimes phenophases will occur a second or third (or more) time in a season, whether because of rain, pests, or changing climate. More...

If there are phenophases and/or intensity measures on which you do not want to report for a species because you find them too difficult to observe, just ignore them. You can cross them out on your datasheets, and do not circle or enter anything for them when you enter your data online.

Enter your observations online

As you collect data during the season, log in to Nature’s Notebook and enter the observations you have recorded.

Much of the value of phenology data is in observations from the same sites and plants over many years,
so please come back next year!

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