Nature’s Notebook

Connecting People with Nature to Benefit Our Changing Planet

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Nature's Notebook...

Nature's Notebook...

Nature's Notebook is a national, online program where amateur and professional naturalists regularly record observations of plants and animals to generate long-term data sets used for scientific discovery and decision-making.

Have Fun Outdoors

Have Fun Outdoors

Being an observer has connected me even more deeply with life in my neighborhood, and with the lives of individual species that I observe.  

– Cathie Bird, Nature's Notebook observer

Contribute to Scientific Discovery

Contribute to Scientific Discovery

Nature's Notebook gives the large Audubon CA volunteer community a chance to contribute to research above and beyond just listing bird species.

- Sandy DeSimone, Director, Starr Ranch Sanctuary—Audubon California

 

Status of Spring

Status of Spring

This year, spring leaf-out was 1-3 weeks late in the SE, northern Great Plains, MW, and NE and 1-3 weeks early across the central Great Plains and mid-Atlantic. The west is a patchwork of early and late arrival. 

See the maps

Celebrating 10 Years of Nature’s Notebook

Marjorie Johnson, who has observed for 10 yearsThis month we highlight the long-term observers who have participated in Nature's Notebook in each of the last 10 years! There are 30 observers who have reached this milestone so far, including Marjorie Johnson. She keeps careful phenology records of forsythia, dogwood, and red oak, and also notes animals she sees in her yard such as white-tailed deer. Through her many years of observations, she has noticed small details about her plants that she never knew before, such as that a late fall flowering of her forsythia means fewer blooms the following spring. 

Learn more »

How your data are being used

Observing nature is fun. But it also serves a greater purpose. Your observations of plants or animals inform scientific discovery and decision-making:

How Your Data are Being Used

  • Scientists use your data in groundbreaking research.
  • Land managers use them to make better-informed decisions about natural resources in their care.
  • Decision-makers use them to determine policy.

Read about examples »