Keeping A Nature Journal in Ottawa

I have made a resolution to keep a dedicated 2017 Nature Journal starting this spring (if spring ever arrives in Ottawa). 

Some pages from my March 2017 Nature Journal

It seems that I have been keeping a nature journal forever.......some years much more intensely than others.

My Nature Journal from 1986

In the past, I loved sketching birds and I used my Nature Journal as a way of studying and remembering distinctive features of various species.

My Nature Journal: unfinished bird sketch dated 1980

I also used my Nature Journal to study trees, their overall shapes and distinctive features. I admire folks who can look at a tree far off in the distance and know exactly what it was just by its shape and location.

My Nature Journal dated January 1986

I attended an event in 2015 hosted by the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club where we were looking for fall shorebirds on migration at Mud Lake and Shirley's Bay.

The sketches below were done from photographs after the event as a way of recording what we did, where we went and all of the birds that we saw that day.

My Nature Journal: Birding at Mud Lake

My Nature Journal: Birding at Shirley's Bay

 My Nature Journal Sketch Book

I have decided to dedicate my Fabriano Venizia sketchbook (that I purchased at the beginning of this year) to gather all of my nature 2017 nature sketches.

I decided to stop using the Fabriano Venezia sketch book as my 'daily sketchbook' because is too heavy to carry in my sketch bag; the book does not stay flat when opened and requires many clips and I am disappointed in how the cotton paper holds my many mediums (watercolour, gouache, graphite, ink etc.)

So I've re-purposed the Fabriano Venizia sketchbook into my 2017 Nature Journal! It will make a perfect book for scribbling my nature notes in as well as pasting sketches that are cut out from my other sketch pads like this cardinal below, that I originally sketched on a mixed-media pad.

Today's sketch to record the Northern Cardinal that I saw while dog walking

My Nature Journal Field Guides 

Below are some of the Ottawa reference books and materials that I have on hand to add information to my sketch notes. Of course the internet is an amazing resource as well.

My field guide home library

My Nature Journal Links for Ottawa

One of the first activities I did in my 2017 Nature Journal this year was to map out the trees in my neighbourhood where I walk regularly. To do this I needed online help from the City of Ottawa's Tree Inventory where every tree (that the City of Ottawa is responsible for) is mapped and named (in Latin) with the radius of the tree trunk! I love this resource!

I will be adding this helpful nature-journaling link and many others to the list below. Keep checking back for new additions.

In Early spring, the buds begin to swell. Its fun to look for them on daily walks.

OTTAWA & ONTARIO LINKS

• City of Ottawa's Tree Inventory
• Ottawa Field Naturalist Club
• Ottawa Field Naturalist Club Bird Sightings Reports (Weekly) 
•  Ottawa Bird Checklist (OFNC)
• Ottawa Falcon Watch
• Ottawa Duck Club
• Neily World - detailed birding guides for Ottawa 
• A Birdfinding Guide to the Ottawa Area
• Ottawa Bird Count 
• Ottawa Wild Care Bird Centre
• Safewings Ottawa 
• Ottawa Tree Atlas
• Ottawa River Keeper
• Ottawa Chapter of the Ontario Archaeology Society 
• Ontario Avibase
• Ontario Butterflies and Moths
• Ontario Ferns 
• Ontario Field Ornithologists 
• Ontario Grasses, Sedges and Rushes 
• Ontario Insects
• Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas  
• Ontario Trees and Shrubs
• Ontario Wildflowers
• Ontario Wildflowers and other Flora
• Old Growth Forest Database
• Ottawa's Fletcher Wildlife Garden
• Ottawa's Friends of Petrie Island
• Ottawa's Innis Point Bird Observatory 
• Ottawa's NCC Greenbelt Trails 
• Ecology Ottawa

 GATINEAU & QUEBEC LINKS

• Friends of Gatineau Park  
• Liste des oiseaux observés au Québec  
• Birds of Quebec

OTHER HELPFUL LINKS

• Cornell University Online Bird Guide
• Cornell University FREE app "MERLIN" (for bird watching)
• Cornell University  "BirdCast" Website and Twitter Account (Forecasting and analyzing bird migration with weather, radar, and citizen science data. Based at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, USA.)
• Nature Instruct - Canada  

John Muir Laws: The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling

Nature Journal Links 

• Sierra Club: Making Your Own Nature Journal
• Sierra Club Nature Journal Template (pdf) 
• Mother Nature Network - How to keep a nature journal
• Susan Leigh Tomlinson: How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook
• Smithsonian: Introduction To The Nature Journal (pdf)
• Cathy Johnson: Field Sketching and Keeping a Nature Journal (pdf) 

I will be posting some of my 2017 Nature Journal pages here on my blog. If you will be nature journaling and/or blogging your nature adventures in Ottawa, please add your link in the comment section below.

Likewise, if you have interesting links you would like to share on Ottawa-Gatineau natre and sketching opportunities, please add that in the comment section below as well.

Happy sketching!