Nature journal example Archives

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Barb — 2 Comments

Nature Observer – May 2019

We had a tease of spring before the cold temperatures crept back in and the rains came pouring down. My friend keeps track of the rainfall numbers and we’re on track for a record breaking year as far as inches of rain. Here in Central Oregon we have a fairly dry climate, some call it the High Desert because of the low rainfall and dry air. You wouldn’t think so right now with the water standing in our yard and the rivers running very high. I’m dreaming of the long, warm summer days.

In the meantime, we jump outside when the sun is out and work on the garden and get out to observe all the amazing things we have in our area.

Here are some nature highlights from our month.

We have two pairs of tree swallows nesting in our yard again this year. We’ve observed them going in and out of the boxes early in the morning and then later they take off to swoop and dive out over the river. They sometimes come back to sit on the fence in the sunshine. They are such graceful and pretty birds and I’m so pleased they are nesting here again.

There’s also a nest up on the back of our bbq house. I noted some dried grasses on the ground behind the shed and wondered where they came from. On investigating it further, I looked up to see a big nest up on the top of the wall. The kind of bird has yet to be determined.

What a fantastic surprise to look outside the other day and see the colorful Western tanager at our bird feeder! There ended up being five males and two females that were enjoying the suet feeder.

We braved the weather to get in a hike at Smith Rock State Park on a weekday afternoon. It’s a very popular place on the weekends, so my aim was to get there on a day and time when we wouldn’t have so many other people on the trail. Success!

There were so many wildflowers to see along the trail and there were lots of birds too! My favorite flower of the day was most definitely the arrowleaf balsamroot that was growing along the ridge of the canyon. There was quite a display of color!

Now for a couple of pages from my nature journal.

I attempted to draw a scene from the hike. The water coming over the dam from the lake and the resulting rainbow in the spray was one of my favorite moments to capture as a reminder of this day with my daughter on the American River in California.

My son was out hiking behind our house in the evening and he spotted a slow moving animal in the distance. As he got closer, he first thought it was a beaver but when it climbed a tree he realized it was in fact a porcupine! I still haven’t seen it, even though I’ve been trying to keep my eyes open for it when we’re out in the evenings. This page is the result of my research in the hope that I will soon spy my very own porcupine.

I’m still playing catch up in my nature journal so hopefully I’ll have a few more pages next month to share. In the meantime, if you want to look at the page on my website with hundreds of nature journal ideas, please feel free to use them as inspiration.

There are many, many nature journal ideas included in the archives of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletters. If you have any level of membership, make sure to download the newsletter index to make finding a topic easy.

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer -February 2019

The month of February has brought with it a lot of SNOW! We haven’t thawed out completely since the beginning of the snow storms. There have been a few days of sunshine but the temperatures have been very cold; cold enough to keep the snow and ice piled up outside our door.

We’ve been trying to keep up with the birds that visit our feeders as part of Project Feederwatch and also during the Great Backyard Bird Count. From what I can observe, not only have there been fewer bird species but even the numbers of those birds has decreased. Some days I only see a handful of birds….far less than this same time period last year. Because we haven’t lived here very long, it’s hard to know if this is an unusual year or not. We’ll keep a detailed record of our observations and see how the year progresses.

I’ve kept up with my daily nature journal notes with our temperatures, snow amounts, and other interesting details from our observations. These simple notes help record just a little more thorough picture of the season.

Images from my Journal

I completed my January birds page. Now that I look at it, it needs a little more detail to make it a really good record of the month. Perhaps I’ll add the numbers of birds I observed (by looking at my Project Feederwatch data) and maybe compare this year’s January birds with last year’s list.

Here’s the page that I made to keep track of the January snow. I may just add February’s statistics to it as well since there’s room.

I used a Handbook of Nature Study newsletter printable grid to record some fun nature details in my journal. This is a super simple way to get started if you’re stumbling over a big ol’ blank page. See this entry for more information on using nature study grids: Using Printables from the Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter.

Here’s a look at my February birds page in progress. I’m keeping a running list of birds observed, left room for my Great Backyard Bird count details and thoughts, and I’m using a printable grid from the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter to encourage me to be on the lookout for birds of all colors. I will finish this one up by the end of the month.

We heard a pair of Great Horned Owls early one morning and I wanted to create a page that had all of the interesting facts about this bird in my nature journal. I find the process of looking up the information for a page helps me learn and remember things better. I’m not aiming for a fancy page but one that has meaning to me. I’m challenging myself to draw in my nature journal, not on every page but a few times a month.

One More Image

We’ve had a mountain lion roaming our neighborhood for a few weeks. Our next door neighbor snapped this image of the big cat right up in a tree in his backyard. It makes me a little nervous to have such a wild creature so near to our home, but we’re just taking precautions and being alert to any signs that he is back.

76 issues of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter are available in the Discovery level of membership for only $20! You also get the Getting Started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook in this level which makes it a super awesome value for your $20.

Download an index of topics here: Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter Topics and Printables.

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – January 2019

Nature Journal Project

This month is a fresh start to my nature journaling journey. I’m keeping several different journals as a way to become more of a naturalist specializing in my own habitat. This just feels like it’s the right time.

Although I’m still trying to keep things simple, I’ve created a new routine for recording my daily notes and statistics as a way to reach my Nature Study Goals for 2019.

Daily Notebooks

Every day I create a brief entry in the Naturalist Notebook which is really a five year record of daily details. You can see in the image how there is a very small box for each day running across the page. Then, down the column will be where I fill in information over the next four years. This way you can compare the daily events from year to year. Right now it feels very ambitious but I’ve learned that if you take it one day at a time it isn’t such a huge project.

The second place I’m recording daily information is in this planner/notebook. It has larger spaces for me to include more details or thoughts for each day. I’m still deciding if I like this particular notebook for this purpose, but time will tell if it works for me.

Note: It’s an 18-month calendar and so the first part has been unused. I’m trying to decide if I should just remove the pages or repurpose them in some way.

This entry includes affiliate links to Amazon.com.

Field Notebook

I have yet to make a single record in my field notebook. It’s super cold when I go outside and I usually wear gloves. This makes it hard to take the notebook and pencil out. That’s a pretty bad excuse for not giving this tool a try and I will be working on doing better. Maybe I should wear my fingerless gloves when I go out on my walks.

Personal Nature Journal

This is where I’ve really stepped up my nature journaling game this year. I’ve gone ahead and prepared several introductory pages for the year and then planned a few pages for January ahead of time.

If you follow me on Instagram, I’ll be sharing the month’s pages at the end of each month in a video along with an explanation.

Here’s an example of one of my January pages sharing my winter willow observations. You can see that I’ve switched to a larger size page for this year just to switch things up.

I have some of the pages planned out, but there’s still room to add in things that spring up during our nature walks like the river otter scampering across the icy river with a fresh fish in his mouth. What a great experience!

Al in all, I think I’ve been successful in getting started with my new routine of nature journaling. It takes a few minutes a day to keep up with the daily notes and maybe 30 minutes or so to create a new nature journal page in my personal journal. With this little effort, I’m loving the feeling of getting to know my habitat better with each passing week. Using the Outdoor Hour Challenges gives me a framework and inspiration to learn something new! This knowledge is not only fun to learn but very encouraging to pass along to my friends and family.

Be Inspired! Be Encouraged! Get Outdoors!

Do you want some more specific nature journal ideas? Click over to my nature journal page and scroll down for the Once-a-Month Nature Journal Project idea buttons. There’s a lot there to keep you busy!

Posted on November 26, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – Nature November

It’s been another month of spending time inside recovering from my hip replacement surgery. There’s been a lot of time gazing out the window at the view and my birdfeeders. In addition, I’ve done quite a bit of reading about my favorite nature topics. There’s just so much to learn!

We spotted the first of our elk herd a week or so ago but haven’t seen them since. It’s always just at daybreak when they move behind our fence so we have to be up and watching or we miss them.

Plus we have been watching and waiting for our beaver to make his appearance. It all started with my husband noticing a tree down by the river that had been gnawed almost the whole way through. We set up our critter cam to see if we could capture the beaver at work but we missed it! We didn’t have the camera in place on the night they finished off the tree.

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to get a video of the beaver taking the limbs off the tree but so far we’re unsuccessful. We won’t be giving up!

Here are my pages from the last month for your inspiration.

This wildflower is a common sight on our walks to the river and in our yard too. We have a bit in our rock garden and some even growing in our lawn.

We tried to transplant a few of the silverweed plants to our new landscaping berm and next year we’ll see if they moved successfully.

I converted an unused page in my Nature Observer journal to record our critter cam results.

Note the link above is my amazon.com affiliate link.

One of the most common birds in our birdfeeders is the chickadee. I realized we live in an area that has both the black-capped chickadee and the mountain chickadee. As I worked on my bird sketching skills, I created a page with a few facts and field notes for the two species.

I find that sketching subjects and writing a few pertinent facts down in my journal helps me to remember it better.

We started the new season of Project Feederwatch! I love this activity and look forward to each week’s counting days. If you aren’t familiar with the project, you count birds that come to your feeders for two days in a row basically once a week. You can watch the feeder for just a few minutes or as long as you have available. This super easy citizen science project helped me gain confidence in recognizing all the birds that come to our feeders by taking it one bird at a time. I highly recommend this for bird loving families with a birdfeeder in your yard!

In addition to my regular nature journal, I work daily in my Nature Observer journal. This is the perfect way to note all the simple every day thoughts and observations which over time give a fuller picture of your local habitat.

Don’t forget that I’m sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal.

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Oaks and Acorns – California Visit

Oaks have a fragrance when the leaves are warm that conjures up memories of all the summers spent living in California. It’s an earthy smell that reminds me of hiking along trails beneath the oak forest canopy.

Dave Moore walking under the oaks — Walking with my son – 2012

Oaks can create a wonderful protective archway and I love to stand underneath and peek up through the leaves to the sky. Along a familiar trail, the oaks create an arching leafy roof that filters the sunlight and I remember watching my boys run ahead of me on this trail, blond heads disappearing around the corner.

This week we camped under the oaks at a friend’s house in California. I relished the time to wander the property to see his magnificent oak trees.

The crunching of dried oak leaves was a familiar trail sound as we walk along looking for acorns, none to be found this day. Perhaps it’s early in the season or maybe this year won’t be a “good” year for an acorn crop. Hint: If you dig around in the leaf litter under the tree, you may find a few of last year’s acorns not gathered by the squirrels or scrub jays.

We compared two different oaks growing at our campsite, the California black oak and the interior live oak. The leaves are very different in size and shape. The California black oak is a large tree with fairly good size leaves. The interior live oak has small, sharply toothed leaves.

This entry includes Amazon affiliate links to products I own and love!

I used the Peterson field guide to trees to figure out what kind of oak trees created each type of leaf. This guide is one of my favorites because of the detailed illustrations of not only the leaf, but also the bud and acorn. This makes it easier to distinguish which oak we are studying. Look for it on Amazon and note there is an eastern and western version for trees.

This day I was reminded that when you study oaks there are many other related studies you could work on at the same time: lichen, moss, mistletoe, woodpeckers, squirrels, and even lizards. Try to take it all in and see your tree as a living world.

See this entry for a free printable: My Tree is a Living World.

Make sure to read the original Oak Tree Outdoor Hour Challenge with a free notebook page: OHC Oaks and Acorns.

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – August

Nature Journal Project: Nature Observer August 2018

Wondering what we have been up to this month and what nature journal pages I have created? August has been very laid back as far as getting outdoors and experiencing nature. We’ve done some trail and campground exploring within a twenty mile radius of our house and found an abundance of awesome places to investigate further. I’m keeping a list in my nature journal of possible places to use for outings in the future. Yes, I know I’m spoiled to have so many things so close at hand, but that’s part of the reason we moved to Central Oregon. It’s a fantastic place for nature nerds to live!

Here are my pages from the past few weeks.

We planted a new aspen tree this month back in our far corner. It’s visible from our living room windows so I’m already anticipating the change of the season and the leaf color. I created a page in my journal with a few interesting facts about aspens, some of my observations, and then a leaf rubbing.

Here’s a two page spread in my Nature Observer journal (see the link and cover below). I LOVE this journal and every day I’m eager to record a few thoughts, facts, and/or nature observations. It has become a great record of when things bloom, appear, disappear, etc.

This page is a record of a magical afternoon spent sitting by Fall River with my husband. The weather was perfect and we found a secluded spot along the bank to watch the birds, enjoy the wildflowers, and the sound of the rippling water.

I tackled a sketch of our resident toad. I used a photograph as a reference and then water-colored it in for my nature page. I learned some new facts about the toad and I can now appreciate his comings and goings as part of his life cycle. My friend named the toad “Geraldine”. I’m not sure how to tell if it’s a boy or girl toad, but we’re going with Geraldine for now.

I’m still going strong with this Nature Observer Guided Journal that I started back at the beginning of the year. There are so many positive things I could say about it but the most important thing is the flexible nature of the calendars and the prompts. I make every page work for me in my habitat. Plus it has a built in habit trainer…in the form of a bullet-style journal section for each month’s goals. So helpful!

If you’re looking for a pre-printed nature journal for yourself, take a look at this one on Amazon.com. I highly recommend it! Please note that I am an affiliate for Amazon.com.

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – July 2018

Nature Observer – Nature Journal Project

July 2018

We’re experiencing a glorious summer weather pattern where it’s hot in the afternoons and very cool at night. It gives us a window of time in the mornings to get out and enjoy a good hike, go for a bike ride, or get things done in the garden before it’s too hot to enjoy it. If it gets too hot, we drag the kayak down to the river and enjoy a good float in the cool river water.

Get outside each day to explore a little nature before the temperatures heat up!

Nature journaling is a perfect indoor activity during the summer months. Pull out the journals along with a few art supplies to record your summer nature study discoveries. Give it a try!

Here are my pages from the past few weeks.

We have two different kinds of hummingbirds visiting our feeders. They are very different and easy to spot. The rufous hummingbird has such a mechanical sound to its wings that you can hear them coming from far away. The calliope hummingbird is very tiny and not as aggressive as the rufous. My page captures both of these amazing creatures.

It’s been quite a summer for bird’s nests in our yard. We’ve been curious and eager to see who would inhabit our nesting boxes. Well, we had two boxes filled with swallows, one box had mountain bluebirds, another box had chickadees, and the most interesting nest was built in a crack in a pine tree by a pair of pygmy nuthatches. Of course, I wanted to document all of this in my nature journal.

I’ve started to carry a small sketch book with me along with a pen to capture the random moments that inspire me. This page was done while kayaking at Sparks Lake with my daughter as we paddled towards the South Sister Peak. Love it!

Do you want some more specific nature journal ideas? Click over to my nature journal page and scroll down for the Once a Month Nature Journal Project idea buttons. There’s a lot there to keep you busy!

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – June

Nature Observer – Nature Journal Project

June 2018

June was packed with lots of outdoor time here in Central Oregon. Most days we were close to home, observing and loving what we discovered in our own yard. But, we also did a bit of traveling to enjoy a completely different habitat. All in all, June has been an excellent month for nature exploring and journaling.

The ocean is a refresher and we were completely delighted with the change of scenery. The ocean waves, the sandy beaches, the tide pools, and the coastal forests made a perfect backdrop for all of our exploring.

Here are my pages for your inspiration:

This is the time of year for new plantings and creating new garden spaces. We got a load of free rocks and used them to begin a new section of our rock garden. I found some plants to transplant and purchased a bit of yarrow to fill in the spaces.

We walk in our meadow just about every day and the purple iris were all blooming the first few weeks of June. I love seeing them as we walk the trail.

Also from our meadow walks, we noted a “new to us” flower, Rydberg’s penstemon. It’s always exciting to discover a new plant to add to our nature journal!

This page is the first of our pages from our coastal trip. I wanted to make some quick notes about a multitude of things we saw during our hikes. I love a good recap page!

I did my best to create a few sketches with colored pencils that represent a few of the highlights from our trip to the tide pool. I love combining sketches and words on a page.

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – May 2018

Nature Observer – Nature Journal Project

May 2018

I love spring!

Keeping a nature journal helps to remind me to slow down and create a record of some of the amazing things we see and experience as each week goes by. It’s easy to let the days slip away without taking note of the beautiful spring changes. But the sense of satisfaction as I flip back through my nature journal pages encourages me to keep at it even when I have a busy week.

I’m even trying to draw and paint more in my journal which is far out of my comfort zone.

I hope you are inspired to stop for a few creative moments this week to make a page in your journal and make the opportunity for your children to do the same.

Here are my entries for May!

We had a weekend trip over to the Willamette Valley for a few days of camping. We did a little hiking along the river and I so enjoyed the wildflowers! Not only the wildflowers, but the birds made this weekend special by providing the birdsong that followed us everywhere.

One day the sun was shining and the temperatures were warm so we decided to take my husband’s new fishing boat out on the lake. He rowed around fishing until his pole fell into the water! I sat on the shore watching the clouds, the birds, and the water…my happy place. We ended the day with a hike around the lake which yielded a fantastic bald eagle sighting. We were able to get close up and see him sitting on the top of a tree. Great memories!

One morning we were eating breakfast and looking out the window just like we normally do each day. My husband noticed an unusual bird hanging onto our suet feeder. He had unusual coloring and I grabbed my binoculars to get a closer look. He stuck around long enough that we got to make some notes of distinctive features and that enabled us to find him in our field guide. He was a Lewis’ woodpecker. This is a rather large woodpecker and he flew away with flapping wings. I’ve since seen another one alongside the road when I was out with a friend. I love being able to name a bird…makes it so special.

We have seen such changes in our landscape this month. I created a nature journal record of the many special moments we’ve had just out our back door. We spotted river otters in the river. We have marveled at swallows and chickadees building nests in our nesting boxes. I was delighted to see our Canada goose family with seven babies swimming in the water. We’ve also seen the return of the wildflowers as well as the tall grasses.

Have you taken a look at my updated nature journal page? Here’s a link to see some ideas to inspire you in your journaling efforts.

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – April 2018

Nature Observer – Nature Journal Examples

April 2018

Things are starting to look like spring around here and we’ve had an abundance of bird sightings and animals to watch. Seeing these things inspires me to get out my nature journal and get busy. I’ve found this to be the key to nature journaling: Find something interesting in nature to put on the page whether it’s a sketch, some words, a list, or a photo.

I’m still struggling with my sketching abilities (note the ground squirrel page below) but I know that practice makes perfect.

I wrote about this dilemma in an earlier blog post:

Drawing and Your Nature Journal

Here’s another entry I wrote that explains a few ways to get started with sketching:

3 Tips for Nature Journaling When You Think You Can’t Sketch

Above all, remember that a nature journal is a personal record of your own experiences in nature. There is no right or wrong way to do it. The only mistake you can make is to not take a few minutes each week to put something down on paper. Photos are great but taking the process to the next step makes a more lasting impression.

Here are my weekly entries for April!

I’m pretty happy with my lodgepole pine nature journal page. I managed to get a decent sketch of the tree shape along with some facts and a quote. Doing the research for this page has enabled me to pick out the lodgepole pines in our forest. My eyes now see the 2 needle bundles and the dead branches at the bottom of the trunk which helps me identify this particular pine from the others.

In an attempt to get to know my local habitat better, I decided to create a simple chart in my nature journal that compares the most common shrubs in our area. It took some time to do the research but it has already helped me pick out the bitterbrush from the rabbitbrush by contrasting leaf shape and color. I may eventually add a few more shrubs to my journal on another page.

It is thrilling to identify a new bird! We often saw a bird fly up and away from the edge of the slough when we were out river walking. Many days with binoculars and time on the internet have helped us identify the Wilson’s snipe! Of course, he made it into my nature journal and I’m fairly happy with the sketch.

One day we were sitting and looking out our back window. My husband spotted the ground squirrel scurrying along our fence line. It was the first time seeing them outside their holes, which we’ve seen all over the back of our property. Since that first sighting, I’ve seen several sitting up on top of a dead tree stump in the sun.

The forest floor is starting to come alive and one of the first things to be sprouting leaves is the wax currant. The leaves are an interesting shape and the little bell shaped flowers are pretty. We’ll be watching to see the berries later in the season.

I loved working on this page from the Nature Observer journal this month. The prompt was to note one surprising thing in nature each day for a week. I may do this again in my other journal.

What’s made it into your journal this week?

Have you taken a look at my updated nature journal page? Here’s a link to see some ideas to inspire you in your journaling efforts.

Tag: Nature journal example

Nature Observer – May 2019

Nature Observer -February 2019

Nature Observer – January 2019

Nature Journal Project

Nature Observer – Nature November

Oaks and Acorns – California Visit

Nature Observer – August

Nature Observer – July 2018

Nature Observer – June

Nature Observer – May 2018

Nature Observer – April 2018

Nature Observer – Nature Journal Examples

April 2018

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!