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Phenology is a great activity to help teach a deep understanding of nature

Phenology is observing the relationship between climate and the life cycles of plants and animals.

These events often depend on seasonal weather changes involving temperature of air or soil. Phenology is pronounced (fi-nol-o-gee). It teaches you how to predict nature's cycles.

One day I read about how some groups Plains Indians peoples would plant their crops of corn(maize) and travel many miles away for hunting or other activities. People of the migrating band could tell when their corn was ready to be harvested hundreds miles away back home. They knew this by what was blooming or what activity was happening where they were.

This goes way past simply identifying, past observing to truly knowing and understanding the land that you live in. This is deep natural knowledge.

There are scientific organizations around the world which track phenological change.They create maps. The lines on the maps connect where plants and animals are behaving the same way in different areas. An example would be a particular species of tree blooming at the same time hundreds of miles apart. To find out more information just type "phenology" into a search engine. There are dozen of websites around the world. My some of my favorites are:

The USA National Phenology Network which has good information on indicator plants.

The Nature's Calendar - the UK Phenology Network, is very nice with a page for kids.

NatureWatch is a Canadian site that has information on watching frogs, ice, plants and worms.

A page with many links is ATTRA Phenology Web Links Page -but this page hasn't been updated since 2002.

If you keep a nature journal you probably have plenty of data already.Look at your past pages in new ways.

What plants bloomed at the same time?
What temperature highs and lows did you record?
When the first migrating birds returned, what was in bloom?
What was the temperature like when you spotted the season's first bumble bee?

How to Begin

Begin by thinking about the animals and plants you notice anyway. With me it's always cardinals, robins and the fruiting of mulberry shrubs. Select subjects of interest and set up a routine for collecting and comparing your collected data.
The best observations are made from the same location year after year.

Weather and Climate

Phenological events, which are easily observed such as buds opening or plants leafing out, can be matched with weather conditions and with other, less easily observed events like the hatching of insect eggs.

Temperature - the daily highs and lows
The amount of moisture in the atmosphere - rain, snow, fog, dew, etc.
The day length

Watch for the ...

Last snow or last frost of Spring
First snow or first frost of Fall
Date a local lake or pond freezes in the Fall or opens in the Spring
Date of the first mosquito bite of the season
Anything else of interest to you

Plants

Plants used for phenological observations are called "indicator plants." Good indicator plants need to be common to a wide geographical area, hardy, easy to recognize, and easy to grow. They should have short, well-defined bloom periods, with blooms and fruits recognizable from a distance.

Bud opening
First leaf
First flower
50% bloom
90% bloom - full bloom
Petal fall
Leaf drop
Seeding
Color changes

Animals

Track first appearance
migration
courtship
breeding
flocking
hibernation, if the animal hibernates

For specific animals

Amphibians(frogs & toads) - first singing, egg laying, life stages
Birds - migration, courting rituals or nesting dates
Insects - dates of appearance/emergence or life stage cycles
Mammals - dates of hibernation, courting rituals, birth of young

After year of two of tracking such changes, you should have some very useful information. This data can be used for vegetable and flower gardening planting, harvesting and pest management. This is great information to put in a nature journal or toscribble on a nature calendar.

Return to Nature Calendars from Phenology

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