Field Journal
Why Keep a Field Journal?
Keeping a journal is an important part of
fieldwork. A scientist uses it to provide a
permanent record of what is going on in
the natural world, somewhat like a diary
of nature.
When you look back at pages from weeks
gone by, you will know what day it was
when you saw particular things. If you
keep a journal for many years, you will
begin to notice patterns. Eventually you
will be able to predict when certain
animals will return and when particular
plants will bloom. Scientists call this
phenology, the study of seasonal,
weather-influenced changes in living
things.
What Goes in a Field Journal?
A field journal is a diary, where you keep all the information you gather in the field. As you observe
nature and gather data through field tests and experiments, your field journal gives you one place to
store all the information you gather. Think about the kinds of information you might keep in a field
journal:
 What kinds of information will you need to record about the site where you are doing your field
work?
 What other information will help you to make sense of what you observe or help you to find
patterns?
 What other information might you want to have when you look back at your notes after a week,
a month, or a year?
Materials:
 3-Ring Binder with loose leaf paper for taking field notes
 Map of Stoney Slough—provided with supplemental material
Creating Your Field Journal
Some scientists write everything--measurements, data, observations, specimens collected--on the same
page; others record some of this information--specimens collected, for example--in a list at the back of
the journal. Another suggestion is to divide the page vertically, with the main part reserved for
recording data and a narrower area running down the side for scribbling questions, ideas, sketches,
hypotheses, and things to look up back at school or in the library. Sketches, drawings, diagrams, graphs
or flowcharts are also very useful.
Materials
A field journal is a work in progress, since you will add information to it for as long as you work in the
field. However, there are some things you can do to get your field journal started:
1. We will use a 3-ring binder with loose leaf paper for recording field notes
2. Create a cover for your journal. Be sure to include your name, grade, school, and a title for your
field study.
3. Always record the date, time, location and weather for each observation.
4. Write everything down. Use as much detail as possible. Remember, you want to be able to get
good information from your journal a week from now or a month from now.
5. Include lots of blank pages in your journal, so that you can write or draw what you see, hear,
smell and feel.
6. Photographs or sketchs:
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When observing changes of stationary objects, always make your observations from the
same spot.
For our observations at Stoney Slough, include a sketch or printout of the Stoney Slough
NWR from above--label north, south, east and west.
Sketch or photograph plants and animals.
7. Think of some questions to ask such as: What do you think you will see?
8. Sensory Observations
 Sight: plants, animals, scat?
 Sounds: birds, wind, stream, cars, noisy classmates;
 Smells:
 STOP: Look up, look down, be quiet and listen.
9. If things are happening so quickly that you do not have time to get everything down, try
developing a coding system--what scientists call an ethogram--to help you make notes quickly.
For example, assign a number to each of a range of typical behaviors, and when observing one
of those, just write down the number. It makes taking notes on the run much easier. You can
make up your own ethogram to suit your site and the kinds of things you want to observe and
record. Just be sure to make, and keep, a key so anyone who reads the journals knows what the
numbers stand for!
10. Some typical arthropod behaviors you might observe are:
 feeding,
 fighting,--including aggression and defense
 building
 reproduction
 caring for young ones
11. Catalog any specimens gathered with a number assigned to each one. Specimens found in the
field should be tagged and numbered to correspond to the catalog. Keep a species list, which
includes all specimens by number, along with the site and date of collection, the name of the
collector, and any remarks.
12. When you get back to class or, later, when you get home, read over your notes and underline or
use a highlighter to mark the really important things. You might want to color-code them so
observations or data in the same category are all one color.
13. Do not lose your field journal. Put your name and class number, and the name, address, and
phone number of your school on your notebook.
Afterward discuss what was observed, what could be living there, what is the evidence? Did they see
what they thought they would? Anything expected, unexpected? What presence of humans was there
(positive and negative)?
Prairie Waters Stoney Slough Field Journal should include:
 3-Ring Binder
 Loose leaf paper for making notes
 Map of Stoney Slough
 Date, time, location and weather for each observation
 3-Ring Zipper bag for pencils, field guides, etc.
Nature Journal—optional language arts activity.
The nature journal differs slightly from the field journal in that it incorporates your feelings and ideas as
you observe nature.
How To Begin Writing A Nature Journal
1. Listen to Nature's voice, literally and figuratively, and provide descriptive words and details for
mountains, rivers, streams, flowers, trees, creatures, and the way the natural world interacts
and is engaged in daily activity. Consider how you are part of that ecosystem and that diversity.
Look at Nature as if through a lens. Study sounds, movements, atmosphere.
2. Incorporate your feelings, mood, observations, and those you might attribute to wildflowers,
meadows, rivers, mountains, and streams. Provide Nature with a voice.
3. Begin writing. Write often. Do not be too critical or edit your writing to the detriment of
spontaneity. Let your writing flow.
4. Write as if writing a letter to yourself or to a close friend or family member. Create a narrative
account, write a story for yourself.
5. Write prose or poetry or a combination of both - you need not consider yourself a writer or a
poet! Complete sentences are optional.
6. Draw pictures with words; incorporate drawings into your journal; incorporate photographs or
press a leaf or a flower between pages of your journal.
7. Read the writings of other nature writers: Gilbert White, William Bartram, Meriwether Lewis,
John Wesley Powell, Susan Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John
Muir, John Burroughs, Edward Abbey, Mary Austin, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard,
Barry Lopez, Gary Snyder, Bill McKibben, Diane Ackerman, Gretel Ehrlich.
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