This is going to be fun! Learn how to create landscape block diagrams. These are great ways to explore and visualize landscapes and ecosystems. This system will help you playfully explore and document your discoveries in nature. Read More
Category: Natural History
Notes from the wild side.
Explore with Master Naturalist David Lukas
Join John Muir Laws and his guest and long-time friend David Lukas as we follow some of David’s journeys and discoveries in beautiful Washington state. A videographer, writer, and naturalist, David shows us slides of some of the cool things he sees out in nature and tells us more about their natural history, as the Read More
Mountain Meadows and Creating Infographics
Join John Muir Laws and guest speakers Ryan Burnett and Anne Chadwick as we learn about mountain meadow ecosystems; and crowdsource for help creating infographics about Point Blue’s Sierra Nevada meadow restoration work. We request your help creating the graphics for this new poster. You can see the info folder for the project with the Read More
Thinking Like a Scientist
Join John Muir Laws for a workshop he shared at the Charlotte Mason Institute Conference on how to explore phenomena from a scientific perspective. When do we use observation and inference and what to do when neither applies! Read More
INJW Numbers with Jack
Presented for International Nature Journaling Week, John Muir Laws teaches about including numbers in your nature journal: Numbers are beautiful, numbers are useful, numbers are an essential language for perceiving and describing the natural world. In this workshop you will learn ways to count, measure, time, and estimate the world. This adds new resources to Read More
NJC, Episode 21, Birdsong in your Nature Journal
Listen to the birds. The forest’s secrets are yours, if you can listen! (Birdsong Hiku). In this video, we explore how to listen to birdsong and transcribe it into your journal. This is the best way to learn the language of birds. You can use these same techniques to describe all the sounds you hear. Read More
Using a Compass Clinometer slope, dip, and angle. (video)
Learn how to use the clinometer on your compass to measure slopes (dip) and angles to treetops and even the sun! I demonstrate a great approach to measure the angle of the sun during celestial events such as the solstice or equinox. Read More
The Iris Project (video)
Join me as I record observations of a Douglas Iris using colored pencil, gouache, watercolor, and pen. In addition to seeing how to draw an iris, learn about starting an observation project in nature near you! Read More
Abby McBride at the WildWonder Nature Journaling Conference 2019
Abby McBride is a self-described sketch biologist, meaning she explores the world with a sketchbook to look for insight into the past, present, and future of landscapes and living things. She writes and illustrates multimedia stories about biology, ecology, and conservation. At the 2019 Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference, she shared how she used sketching to tell Read More
Gull Identification Guide (free download)
Gull identification has always given me trouble. Not only are the species similar but the plumage changes dramatically over the first few years of life. Some species, such as the large Western Gull take four years to develop. In its first year, the gull has mottled brown feathers (think of play clothes). As the bird Read More