Indiana Backyard Observers

Hi once again my name is Amelia Auberry, and I’m a volunteer for Indiana Phenology.

In this video I will tell you how to submit observations using the Nature’s Notebook mobile app.

When you make observations, you’re looking at phenophases, which are observable stages in the annual life cycles of a plant or animals.

They have definable start and endpoints, which can last up to a few days or weeks.

The phenophases that we look at in Nature’s Notebook are the leafing, flowering, and fruiting phases of plants.

There are 5 phases for leaves, 3 for flowers, and 3 for fruits.

The site will also ask you questions that are optional for you to answer about the intensity of the phenophase you observe.

For example, you might be asked if there are leaves on a tree, and if so how much of the potential canopy space do those leaves take up.

Ok so to observe, begin by downloading the Nature's Notebook mobile app from iTunes or the Google Play Store.

It is free to download.

After you install the app, open it.

One way to start making observations on the app is through the “Groups” tab.

This tab shows you what groups are available to you, to make an observation for.

You automatically belong to your own, “My Sites” group, which is as it says, just a group that has all of your personal sites compiled in one place.

Tap on the name of a group to confirm you will make an observation for that group, or leave it filled in if it’s already filled in.

If you tap on your group name, the app will send you to the “Sites” tab (which we’ll cover in the next slide).

Side note, you won't ever see any sites under the "Indiana Backyard Observers" icon. You already joined, and are a member of the Indiana Backyard Observer’s program.

As a member, all of your observations are automatically added to the group’s database, pooled with data from all the other sites in the program.

The program does not have any single, designated observation location.

This is what your “Sites” looks like.

Here you can choose a site to observe, or create a new one.

Check to see if your desired site is filled in.

Then, either tap the site you want to look at, or tap on the button, “Go to Plants and Animals”.

Ok, now that you established your site, this is the “Plants and Animals” tab.

It shows you all of the organisms that you have in your site.

Click on a plant or animal to view more information about it, which includes its species profile page.

Make sure you have selected the correct site, and see all of the correct plants for that site.

Then, click on the “Observe” tab.

On the observe page, you will see the observation date at the top, and as you look down the page you will also see the nickname of your individual plant, and then the “Yes/No/Unsure” phenophase questions.

Tap on the “i”, or information button, to the right of each question to go to the phenophase definition for that plant.

Don’t worry, your progress will be saved if you go to the phenophase definition page.

When you press your answer, it will become highlighted to show that you have selected it.

When you have answered all of the questions, then select, “Save Data” on the bottom left.

The “Save Data” button will flash to indicate that it saved your answers.

Then Tap on “Next Plant” to go to the next plant in your site.

Ok, let’s talk about the “Review” tab. Tap on this tab to take you to a calendar.

The calendar shows you on what days of the current month you observed your site.

Tap on the “Toggle Month” [button] to switch between showing only the current month, to showing full calendar for the current year.

If that date has a green checkmark, it indicates that you completed all of the “Yes/No/Unknown” questions for each plant in that site.

If that date has a gray box, it indicates that you did not fill in all of the information.

Tap on that date to take you to a list of your plants, which shows you a fraction next to each one.

The fraction tells you how many questions for each plant that you completed out of the total.

Look for the plants with incomplete fractions.

For example, in the second (rightmost) screenshot you can see that “tuliptree-1-frontyard” has an incomplete fraction next to it.

I then tap on that plant to bring me to its observation page, to complete the observation for that date, and resolve the issue.

If you choose not to look for a particular phenophase, it’s fine to leave it blank and have incomplete data for a plant.

When you are done, make sure to tap on the “Save Data” button at the bottom of the screen.

The “Settings” tab enables you to choose to sync your data over wifi, to include the time and dates on which you observed your plants in your observations, and to change the Nature’s Notebook account that you’re using.

I won’t go over this tab in-depth, but you can fill in the circles to match your preferences at the top.

Ok, I’ve now taught you everything you need to know about making observations through the mobile app. If you wish, you may use paper datasheets to make observations instead of using the mobile app. A separate video describes that process.

Thank you for joining me, and Indiana Phenology, as a backyard observer.

I hope that you find it enjoyable and rewarding, to pay close attention to your plants as they change throughout the seasons.

Happy observing.

Once again, my name is Amelia Auberry, and I’m a volunteer for Indiana Phenology.

In this video I will tell you how to download and print datasheets to make observations.

I will also tell you how to submit those observations to the Nature’s Notebook database on your computer.

When you make observations, you’re looking at phenophases, which are observable stages in the annual life cycles of a plant or animals.

They have definable start and endpoints, which can last up to a few days or weeks.

The phenophases that we look at in Nature’s Notebook are the leafing, flowering, and fruiting phases of plants.

There are 5 phases for leaves, 3 for flowers, and 3 for fruits.

The site will also ask you questions that are optional for you to answer about the intensity of the phenophase you observe.

For example, you might be asked if there are leaves on a tree, and if so how much of the potential canopy space do those leaves take up.

When you are unsure about if you are seeing the right phenophase, you can refer back to the National Phenology Network’s definitions of the different phenophases for each species.

They will define what a plant looks like (such as its color, or it’s shape), and sometimes even what it feels like (or its texture), in each phenophase.

To access the species’ phenophase definitions, go to your observation deck.

Move your mouse down to the “Observe” menu, under which you will find a link that says, “View Species Profile.”

On the species profile page, you can scroll down to see the specific phenophase definitions for that species.

Alternatively, you can Tap on “The Plants and Animals” link under the Observe menu at the top of the page.

Ok, here are your options for printing datasheets, and for printing the species definitions.

When using datasheets, it is also helpful to have the species definitions printed out, on-hand, so you feel more sure about what you’re looking at.

Go to your observation deck, and scroll to “My Plants and Animals.”

Then, click on the plant you want the datasheet for on the list (number 1 in this slide).

You will know which plant you selected when, after you click it, it is highlighted in gray.

Then, move your mouse to the next box to the right of “My Plants and Animals.”

Click on the “Print Field Datasheet” link, and also click on the ”Print Phenophase Defi- Definition Sheet (which are both number 2 on this slide).

The datasheet, and the Phenophase definition sheet should both download onto your computer immediately after you click on the links.

If you print datasheets this way, you will need to print a sheet for each individual plant and animal, separately.

If you click on #3, or “Print Field Datasheets”, the site will present you with this page.

We are only focusing on plants in these videos, so I recommend ignoring the “Create Animal checklist box..

Check off the “Day by Day” box if you want to see multiple plants on your site, on a single sheet.

Or, check off the “Species by Species” box if you want to have a single plant from your site on each datasheet page.

You can preview either option by selecting the “Preview” button to the right of those two checkboxes.

Also, for either or both options, check off the “Create Phenophase Definition Sheet” box, to print off phenophase definitions for each plant in your site all at once.

Once you have selected your preferred options, click the “Create Datasheets” button to automatically download your customized datasheets and phenophase definition sheets.

Once you click on the link or the download for a datasheet, the site will open up a sheet in a different window that has this format.

Each set of yes/no/unknown questions is unique to each plant.

Check to see if all of the information matches up with the plant or plants you selected.

In the upper right-hand corner on your screen there should be an icon of a printer.

The icon will look different depending on the computer you use.

Click on that icon, fill in your preferences for the dimensions of the paper, and click print.

Once the sheet is printed out, you fill in the date and time in the top rows, and circle the appropriate letter in the columns below (with a pencil or pen).

Do not circle anything under a column of a specific phenophase if you did not check for that phenophase in the first place.

In the adjacent blank space to the right of the Yes/No/Unknown prompts, you can write in the appropriate measure of intensity or abundance for the phenophase, if you wish to. In other words, you can put the number or percentage of that type of phenophase you saw, in that blank space.

Once you physically fill out your datasheet, you must ent- enter the information into the Nature’s Notebook website.

To enter observation data on your computer, go to the section entitled, “Enter Observations” ( which I- which I circled, on the very right side of the page) in your observation deck. Then click on the link, “Enter Observation Data.”

You will fill in the same information you took down on your physical datasheets. Make sure you have your datasheets on-hand.

Check to see if the date, time, site, and individual plant match up with those on your datasheet.

Next, note that the four tabs regarding your contribution of time, any animal observations, the amount of snow, or additional notes are optional to answer.

You are encouraged to, but not required, to fill those uh questions, in to submit your site observations.

Look below those tabs to see dropdown tabs for each of your plants. Fill in the phenophase questions for each plant.

For each phenophase question, you are presented with the options of “Yes/No/?” (or unknown) to answer them; you should at least fill in these questions before submitting.

The “What value?” question to the right of those, is optional.

When you are finished entering your observations, pre- press the orange “Submit Observations” button um above the tabs. Once you hit submit, your observations will show in blue, but they can still be edited later.

Ok, I’ve now taught you everything you need to know about making observations with paper datasheets. A second, and arguably less time-consuming, way to make observations is through our mobile app. A separate video describes that process.

Thank you for joining me, and Indiana Phenology, as a backyard observer.

I hope that you find it enjoyable and rewarding, to pay close attention to your plants as they change through the seasons.

Happy observing.