![]() To be curious is to ask questions, to dig deeper, to learn something. “Intentional curiosity” is a wonderful phrase, full of deeper meaning about the art of seeing. And “observing-questioning-reflecting” = truly seeing, not just looking. ![]() A naturalist records field notes, which are about observing, questioning, and reflecting. The primary skills of a naturalist-a natural scientist-include not just knowledge of the natural world, but more importantly the ability to observe carefully. If the foundation of science is the ability to “observe-reflect-deduct,” then field notes are the key to the process. “Keeping a journal of your observations, questions, and reflections will enrich your experiences and develop gratitude, reverence, and the skills of a naturalist.” If you “train your mind to see deeply and with intentional curiosity. With the passion of a crusader, naturalist, artist, and author John Muir Laws ( The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling) describes the value of nature journaling beyond being a mere record: Is it simply a list of places and plants and animals?ĭoes it accomplish anything of value beyond a record? Is it just to make a collection of pretty pictures? In the process of working up some new courses for fall 2019 and spring 2020, I’ve been delving into the question: This year I was fortunate to join the team at the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill as Art & Science Program coordinator-where helping put together classes on field sketching and science notebooks is part of my job. Data and sketches from my journals have been used in several books written by me and my husband, Jonathan Hanson. I’ve been keeping journals for over 45 years, since I was 8 or 9 years old, and they became nature-oriented about 35 years ago, when I started studying ecology and evolutionary biology in college and began publishing books and articles about natural history. ![]() Proof that one does not need to cross the globe to Africa-you can find the Wild where you are.Īnd so I give you, Yard Bunny, restored and appreciated: Why does the hawk not swoop up and grab its attacker from the sky, instead of “scree-ing” in annoyance and fleeing?Īnd finally, as I rounded the third kilometer, I stopped to watch another Cooper’s hawk bathing in a rain puddle at the side of a quiet residential street. Turning back to my run, a Cooper’s hawk swooped across my path, with a mockingbird literally on its tail and back, bombarding, pecking, and scolding. Do they learn this from parents / grandparents / great-grandparents? The coyotes then trotted down to Campbell Avenue, one of the busiest in Tucson even at 6 am, and I watched in horror and fascination as they stopped, watched traffic (literally surveying all the cars as they went by), then when a break came trotted to the median, where they waited, watching the correct and opposite direction, then proceeded across at the next break. out of which shot at least three rabbits. Two coyotes slipped across the road just 20 feet from me and circled a privet hedge. It has been hard to keep up the daily sketching, and I struggled with withdrawal from intense nature experiences.īut the day after the bunny-you-are-not-an-elephant episode, I went for my usual 5K run and re-learned the joy of finding mysterious things in the familiar: A bunny in the backyard just wasn’t the same as 65 elephants drinking, bathing, and play-fighting deep in the African bush. ![]() I was in naturalist and sketch-artist heaven.Īt home now, my surroundings suddenly became. I was afforded the luxury of writing, sketching, and painting every day in my nature journal with live-as in just feet from me, in most cases-elephants, zebras, giraffes, leopards, hundreds of birds, as well as discovering dozens of new-to-me plant species. I recently returned from a six-week exploration by Land Cruiser across Botswana and Namibia.
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