1. Training Materials Overview
Welcome to the USA National Phenology Network training materials mini-series.
This series of presentations will guide you through the steps of observing plant or animal phenology using the USA National Phenology Network program, Nature’s Notebook.
This information is also available on USA-NPN website at

2. As a part of the USA National Phenology Network’s phenology observing program, Nature’s Notebook, you are invited to observe both plants and animals, however you can choose to observe just plants or just animals as a part of this program.
There are four key things you will need to do to get started on observing through Nature’s Notebook: search the plant and animal species on the USA-NPN list, learnhow to monitor, register yourself with USA-NPN, and report your observations online.
Note that while we present the steps in this order, you might not necessarily follow this order when setting up your project. 2

3. Plant and animal observing
Most of the steps are the same whether you are observing plants or animals. However, because animals move around and plants do not, there is one important difference in the way we ask you to observe plants and animals:
For plants: Observe the same individual plants each time you visit your site. For example, you would observe the same red maple tree in your backyard all through the year.
For animals: Create a checklist of animal species and look for all of them each time you visit your site. For example, if your checklist includes robins, wood frogs, and tent caterpillars on it, you would record whether you saw or heard each of those species anywhere in your site each time you visited. 3

4. www.usanpn.org/participate/guidelines Select a site
Select plant and animal species
Select individual plants
Mark your site and plants
Record your observations of animals
Record your observations of plants
Report your data online
There are seven presentations in this series that detail the specifics of how to observe plant and animal phenology using Nature’s Notebook:
Selecting a site
Selecting plant and animal species
Selecting individual plants
Marking your site and plants
Recording your observations of animals
Recording your observations of plants
Reporting your data online
You can access these presentations in the order they are presented or in any order that makes sense to you. These presentations are available on USA-NPN website at 4

5. Thank you for your time and interest in our program!