Nature Journaling Protects Birds and the Places They Need

On the western fringe of Florida, simply miles from the Alabama border, Shorebird Stewardship Senior Coordinator Brian Cammarano hops out of his Nationwide Audubon Society truck with a digital camera, scope, and tripod. He’s in counting mode, monitoring sea and shorebird species that want quiet, pure seashores to relaxation and feed all year long. It’s 2026, however an essential area device is identical one biologists and nature fans have been utilizing for hundreds of years: a easy pocket book.

***

Greater than 120 years in the past, Margret Burton took a ship from Key West to the Dry Tortugas, arriving in Might and staying till mid-July. Along with the assorted survival necessities, she had her personal small pocket book, meant for recording observations of the fowl species that nest in what’s now a nationwide park. She famous nesting habits for Sooty Terns, Brown Noddies, Magnificent Frigatebirds, and extra, all info she ultimately took again to the American Ornithological Union. In lots of instances, she data the identical info of curiosity to Audubon’s biologists immediately: The place are the nests? What do they seem like? What number of eggs do the birds lay?

In a single entry, she describes Sooty Terns and Brown Noddies: “[They] lay their eggs within the sand with none nest however normally below a bush or a weed: as a rule they lay however one egg as I’ve discovered however two nests containing extra and haven’t discovered any nests of the noddys (sic) as having a couple of.”

Examine Audubon’s fowl information immediately, and her observations are echoed: These seabirds normally lay only one egg.

Whereas digital instruments – particularly cameras – now increase the paper pocket book, biologists nonetheless choose its glare-free pages, small measurement, and low price in comparison with different strategies.

Cammarano says he wouldn’t “go a day within the area with out my ‘Ceremony within the Rain’ pocket book.” Why? These notebooks are “particularly made to face up to parts like excessive warmth, sweat, sand, and rain. Telephones usually are not, and the glare makes navigating by way of your display screen tough.” There are different causes the pocket book simply works higher: “I’m normally writing shorthand particulars,” Cammarano continues, “banding codes and tallying counts as I survey. The information wouldn’t transcribe effectively on my cellphone with the fixed burden of autocorrection and formatting points.”

Plus, telephones are distracting, provides Tampa Seabird and Shorebird Biologist Abby McKay, to not point out sand in your cost port and coping with the specter of low battery points. McKay appreciates that she will sketch out the place birds are nesting inside giant teams. “I feel a pocket book captures greater than your cellphone!” she factors out.

It’s not simply biologists; many birders need a break from their screens. Senior Communications Affiliate Renée Wilson makes use of simply the four-letter abbreviations to document the species she sees foraging in her yard – in spite of everything, her notes are simply to jog her personal reminiscence (or for the wet day when she decides so as to add all of them to eBird). Together with notes about attention-grabbing habits and stars that denote a uncommon or first-of-the-season sighting, she will see developments within the reproductive success of resident birds and the timing of arrival of migrating birds. She even confirmed the presence of nesting Northern Parulas in her yard, a species her previous area information confirmed as solely migrating or wintering in her space.  

***

Along with recording crucial info, the act of writing with a pen or pencil on bodily pages permits biologists, birders, and artists alike to see and bear in mind what they noticed otherwise than in the event that they took no notes or typed up observations on a cellphone or laptop.

In The Pocket book: A Historical past of Considering on Paper, Roland Allen explains that “A number of research have discovered that college students who take lecture notes on laptops don’t be taught in addition to those that write with pen and paper.” Why? “[T]yping encourages verbatim note-taking, somewhat than paraphrasing, summarizing and idea mapping, that are rather more efficient methods at encoding new info within the reminiscence.”

It isn’t simply the advantages of summarization – it’s the physicality of pen and paper itself. Allen explains: “The bodily labor appears to play a component, as we encode reminiscences higher when muscular effort is concerned.”

When Logan Davis began her previous seasonal work because the Tyndall shorebird biologist for Audubon, she wanted to document fowl bands she noticed whereas on common seashore surveys. Efficient fowl band recording should embody the situation and coloration sequence of the bands. That’s comparatively straightforward to do if images are doable, however typically Davis noticed these fast-moving sea and shorebirds by way of a recognizing scope. Accuracy is crucial, as the info she collected contributes to habits, longevity, and motion research that assist researchers defend the birds and their habitat.

So, she drew herself a cheat sheet! Throughout two pages in her area pocket book, Davis rigorously sketched the completely different colours of the potential bands, their leg placement, essentially the most difficult coloration mixtures, and a collection of twelve follow bands and their appropriate band colours. The 2 pages acted as a reference within the area, however the act of making the pages gave her sensible expertise by studying about and recording bands earlier than she entered the tougher seashore setting.

These sketches and reminiscence aids assist not simply new biologists within the area, however skilled naturalists too. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Director of Public Packages, Sally Stein, is a grasp naturalist, however nonetheless ceaselessly sketches inside the Sanctuary’s 13,000 acres to stay acquainted with the wildlife that decision this place house. Wetlands Restoration Specialist Danielle Ivey, a licensed nature journaling teacher in her free time, consists of frequent area observe reminders in her sketches of birds: What do the wing feathers seem like? What do the fowl’s legs seem like? What vegetation is close by? “Nature journaling has helped me decelerate and reclaim my consideration in a loud and infrequently disconnected world,” Ivey says. “It permits me to deal with my love of the character and nurtures my limitless curiosity.”

For artists, their nature sketches are the idea for bigger works in several media. Lauren Austin, former Artist in Residence on the Audubon Heart for Birds of Prey, typically got here to sketch the ambassador birds on the middle. Their types later returned in her award-winning quilts.

Austin loves raptors and seeks them out in every new place she has lived. “I prefer to sketch and paint the birds to make use of their photos in my artwork. I make quilts with photos of raptors, both from my drawings or from x-rays of the birds within the triage unit,” she says.

Touring to the Heart for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Florida, Austin appreciated that she might spend hours with the birds: “I really like that I can sit and observe for so long as I have to work on a picture.” Her particular favorites have been Ronia the Crimson-shouldered Hawk, Merlin the Barred Owl, Hank the Osprey, and Chopper the Peregrine Falcon.

Austin’s “Birds Are My Folks” assortment depicts birds and folks collectively, dropped at life in vivid colours and complex stitches. Chopper was replicated within the quilt assortment, as have been Merlin and Hank.

***

For biologists, educators, artists, birders, and extra, the character journal serves as a crucial asset within the area, when reflecting on experiences at house, and at the same time as show items to show others about birds and the locations they want. Are you impressed to maintain your individual nature journal? Go for it!