Well we have made it pretty far on our journey of learning about nature journaling – in fact I think I see our destination in sight… But how did we get here? And where are we going next? Today we are going to talk about a fun strategy to try when stuck in a nature journaling rut.

N is for Navigate

This was a practice that I did not do for a very long time in my nature journal. I was first inspired to try while listening to and learning from fellow nature journalers like Roseann Hanson and Yvea Moore who shared ways to include maps in your nature journal. So here are a couple of ways I have used maps in my journaling practice.

1. The Path Taken
As I have previously discussed, I enjoy participating in community science projects. Some of my favorites have been amphibian egg mass and beaver surveys in local wetlands and bird surveys in local parks. As part of my reflection on these experiences, I recently started including maps of track taken while collecting data, including any particularly interesting sightings.

For the bird survey, I especially found these notes helpful when I went back for additional data collection at a later date. It gave me a place to look back and remember more easily which path I needed to follow as part of the project. I also used eBird to help me track this data digitally and so others could use it.

2. Where did you find that?
I also like using maps to log where I have traveled. A couple years ago, I included a map from a family trip out to Eastern Oregon to the John Day National Monument along with notes on the different units and their characteristics. I have recorded things like where I have found interesting mushrooms or even an expanding patch of cyclamens in the woods (still no idea where they cam from). These can help me with sharing data later in iNaturalist as well.

Challenge: Map It Out

This week’s challenge is to take a walk outside and track your path. Where did you go? Add landmarks to your sketch. Or particular things that caught your attention – maybe something you had never noticed before or something you might hope to come back to. If you want, you can use technology to help track the distance you traveled and include that on your page. You never know where you might find something fun or interesting!

Happy Exploring!

Kirsten, the NW Naturalist