Nature’s Notebook

Connecting People with Nature to Benefit Our Changing Planet

1 2 3 4
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

Spring leaf-out has arrived in the Continental US and most of Alaska. Spring 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

Education Coordinator LoriAnne Barnett with Certified LPL Hank VerbaisThis month we highlight the data and data products managed by the USA-NPN that are used by researchers, managers, educators, meteorologists, gardeners, and other members of the public. Read the results of published research that includes data from the National Phenology Database on our Peer-Reviewed Results page. Explore the data yourself via our Visualization Tool and Phenology Observation Portal. See the Status of Spring maps that provide forecasts of when spring leaf out and bloom will arrive and how this year stacks up to a long-term average. Find out whether pests are treatable in your area with our Pheno Forecasts.

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 »