Friday, March 27 - Nature Break

Good Morning, Vikings and Friends!      

Happy Friday! Yesterday I was out in my yard twice, and found two different "firsts" to record in my journal. In the morning, I saw my first bee of the season, happily inspecting the flowers on the yaupon holly. She did not appreciate me watching her and trying to take pictures of her. She eventually flew away.

Last night, we decided to have a picnic dinner out in the yard. We found our first ladybug of the season crawling around the grass near our picnic blanket.

Recording "firsts" in your journal has two great benefits. After you've been journaling for a year, you can look back and compare when you saw "firsts." Was this year's first bee observation earlier or later than last year? (Pro Tip: When you start doing this, you can call your nature journal a "Phenology Journal." Phenology is a fancy way of saying "study of the seasons". )

Secondly, recording firsts in your journal also enables you to contribute to citizen science projects like Journey North. People all over the world record their first sightings of birds, bees and monarchs on the website, and this data helps scientists track migration patterns and population statistics.

I hope you have the fun of a "first" discovery in your space this weekend!

-Mrs. Breclaw