Nature Notes: Spring Awakening

For me, the advent of spring is always delightfully frustrating. First, there are the first few days of sun, where my mood lifts and I get excited about the fresh air, shorts, hiking, and the incredible world around me. And then, inevitably, it snows or rains and I go stir-crazy! Over the past week in Montana, we seem to finally have transitioned to a longer lasting spring, and I am elated. My hammock is up, and I am dreaming about all the fun I will get to have over the next few months.

One of the most enjoyable things about spring for me is the awakening of my naturalist senses. Flowers start blooming, birds start singing and being outside becomes an adventure in identification and learning (in my book, this is a good thing). In the past few years, I have started to leave my larger fields guides at home during my hikes, and transitioned to bringing one comprehensive guide and some great smartphone tools.

Below, you will find my favorite naturalist tools that anyone can use. Most of them are free or affordable, and all of them can enhance your explorations of the world around you, whether you are walking in a city park or on a multi-day backpacking adventure.  The tools I know and love are all available for the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, and the apps typically have version or data packs for most regions in the United States and even North America.

Daniel Matthew’s Natural History Books

Daniel Matthews is the author of comprehensive natural history books about the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies. The original books were titled Cascade-Olympic Natural History and Rocky Mountain Natural History, but his most recent update to the Pacific Northwest version comes from Timber Press, has color photography, and is called Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains. At this point, these are the only physical books I take with me when I hike. 

What I love about these books is the fact that they are comprehensive. Everything is included, from basic regional geography and rock types to insects and even lichens and mosses. You won’t find everything here, but for me, I love the fact that this book is a great jumping off point, and that no matter what question I have on a hike, I have some sort of answer.

Smartphone Tools:

Wildflower Search Apps

There are a million different ways to identify plants and flowers out there, but the one I use most frequently is a wonderful free app authored by an organization that also runs a website called wildflowersearch.com. I use one for Washington and one for the Yellowstone region, but there are apps for almost every state and region.

Because they are free, the search function can take some getting used to, but once you get familiar with how to use them, they are a fabulous way to find out what you are looking at. The way they work in general is that you identify where you are and what time of year it is, and then you pick out some of the distinguishing characteristics of the plant you are looking at, including color, number of petals, leaf configuration and so on.

I use my flower app all the time, particularly now, when I am still excited by every new blossom. The pictures on this app are so-so, and I don’t always have success, but I can usually narrow it down to a few possibilities, which is good enough for me.

Merlin Bird ID by The Cornell Lab

This app is similar to the flower app, but it is for birds. It takes up a TON of space on your phone, but in return, you can get specialized packs for just about every region in North America. Then, when you see a bird, you answer a few simple questions about when and where you saw it, its size and behavior, and you get a list of potential birds. This app is published by The Cornell Lab, and the quality of the photos, sounds and descriptions available make this the best naturalist app I have seen.

Rite in the Rain Notebooks

While this is not an identification tool on its own, no hike for me is complete without one of these fantastic notebooks. They are pocket-sized, truly water-resistant (when you use a pencil or waterproof pen!), and they are great for the times when my tools can’t get me the answers I want, or I notice something I want to remember. I will note questions and unidentified things in my field notebook, and then I can go back to them at home and research further or use them as the basis for some nature journaling.

If you have any other great field tested tools, please share them in the comments below. Happy naturalizing!