Field Journaling
by Cristina Eisenberg

You can increase your enjoyment of backyard birdwatching by keeping a simple field journal. Nature writer/artist Cristina
Eisenberg has some ideas to help you get started. Cristina will be teaching a course on nature journaling through the Glacier
Institute in Montana this June (http://www.glacierinstitute.org). You can sample more of Cristina's nature writing at her website, http://www.wyldearth.com. This article was previously and originally published at Suite 101.com (http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/backyard_birdwatching_almanac) in August, 2001.

Are you looking for a way to get to know your backyard birds better? Start a field journal. By making regular observations and drawings, you can strengthen your understanding and knowledge of them. As a child you probably saw things with great clarity, but as you grew into adulthood, your observation skills diminished. The blank pages of a field journal invite you to see the world anew and reclaim this sense of wonder.

Field journaling isn't new. The classic journals of Lewis and Clark, Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Thompson Seton, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Ann Zwinger, and Edward Abbey are priceless records that teach us much about the natural world.

Part of the appeal of field journaling lies in its flexibility. There are as many ways to keep a field journal as there are people who keep them. Some people prefer to make precise scientific observations. Others use poetry or prose to record their feelings about nature. Still others draw what they see. My field journals didn't reach their full potential until I began to combine all of these ingredients.

Start with an open mind and a blank book. Get a hard-bound artist's notebook made of acid-free paper. Be sure it's easy to hold. The paper should take a variety of media, including watercolor. Avoid ruled pages, because lines limit your creativity.

You'll need a soft drawing pencil that moves easily across the paper, such as a 3B, and a pen with permanent ink. It doesn't have to be a technical pen-I often use a Deluxe Micro Uni-Ball. Get good quality colored pencils, such as Prismacolor, and a pocket watercolor kit. These items are available at art supply stores. In order to make accurate entries, you'll also need a
field guide to birds and a field guide to plants.

Begin with the title page. It should contain your name and the date. Copy an inspiring nature quote or sketch a favorite bird. On the next page make a statement of purpose. Initially your purpose may be simply to observe and record birds in your backyard, but in time this may change.

Get comfortable in your backyard and look around for a few minutes. Find a bird you wish to focus on and look at it with as much concentration as you can muster. Pay attention to details such as field marks, beak length, and stance. Use binoculars or a spotting scope to extend your range of observation.

Make your first entry. (The following is just a suggested format-feel free to experiment.) At the top of the page record the location, date, and weather. State your first sensory impressions. You don't have to use complete sentences for these notations.

Now make a quick gesture drawing of your subject. You're not an artist, so why a drawing? Because drawing reinforces observation. When you draw you must focus on the subject, as if seeing it for the first time.

Go ahead, plunge in. Give yourself no more than three minutes for your gesture drawing. Make quick marks. Draw, don't think. Draw what you see, not what you think you see. Set aside your assumptions of what a drawing should look like. Don't worry about how accurate it is. Gesture drawings don't have to be perfect; they seldom are. Don't erase. Be daring, use ink!
Go with the flow. Think of it as visual shorthand. At the end of three minutes you should have a line drawing that accurately captures the essence, the "gestalt," if you will, of your subject.

Not all your drawings will be beautiful. Try not to be too self-critical. After you get comfortable with this technique, you may want to do more sustained drawings, where you focus on complex elements such as light and texture. You may want to add color. Experiment and see what feels good.

Okay, so your basic observations and drawing are done. Now what? Take out your field guide and look up the bird you sketched. Write down its common and scientific name. Use the illustration in the field guide to refine some of the details in your drawing. Jot down any interesting facts.

Next, record your subjective response to the subject. Avoid generalizations and write what you see and feel. Experiment with literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and word-play. Write a Haiku or a couple of stanzas of free verse. Who cares if your poetry is lousy? In time you'll find your voice.

Now take your thoughts out of your backyard and reflect for a moment about how your subject connects with other creatures and with the rest of the natural world. Write down these observations, for they are just as valid as noting genera and species.

That's it. If you follow these instructions, you should end up with an entry that provides a vivid portrait of a bird or some other aspect of the natural world. Later you can return to the page you created and gain a deeper understanding of what you saw.

Broaden your field journaling skills by making site specific seasonal observations, documenting natural events as they occur, keeping systematic records, telling stories, or recreating an earlier era. You can use your field journal as a place for meditation and healing. The journaling process can provide a vast amount of emotional healing through connection with the natural world and can keep you focused on positive things.

Keep making entries. Eventually these entries will grow into a collection of moments. By noting the things you see, you make them your own, and become enriched by them. And in the end, your humble field journal will contain your life within its pages.