Last fall, I observed a bald eagle bathing on the lake shore. Later, I walked the beach looking for any prints the eagle might have left. Journaling about bird tracks seemed like an easy task, but it wasn’t until I compared tracks from different birds that I really learned something.
Continue reading Nature Journaling Bird Tracks: Using Comparison to Improve Observations
This is the last week of my self-imposed nature journal challenge. For each of my sessions, I had ideas of what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. While I wound up with pages I consider successful, nothing went as planned. I learned a lot anyway, most of all that I need to be flexible.
Continue reading Being Flexible with Nature Journal Plans
When it comes to birding, I constantly make mistakes. I think I know what is true, but I don’t. I discover my errors by taking the time to learn what is real for myself. My observations often challenge my assumptions and have recently taught me an important lesson about racism.
Continue reading What My Birding Mistakes Have Taught Me About Racism
While I’ve been interested in nature journaling for years, I’ve struggled to develop a good journaling habit. I am lucky enough to live on a lake, which seems like an ideal place to observe nature. But in fact, most of the birds and animals I see are so far away it’s hard to make out details, even with binoculars. Cold weather and poor health have made it hard to get outside where I might get a better look. Then two pieces of advice changed everything for me.
Continue reading Diagramming Bald Eagles: My Nature Journal Project
On December 29th, there were thirteen bald eagles in sight all at once, the most I’d seen on the lake at the time. Excited by the high numbers, I posted about it on Facebook. A friend asked if I was sending my data in to eBird, and I had to confess I wasn’t.
Continue reading Permission to Err: Counting for eBird