Greetings!

Happy Summer Solstice! For many of us, it's felt like summer for a few weeks now as record-breaking heat settled over much of the country. Your reports of plant and animal phenology will be critical to understanding how these unusual temperatures are impacting the environment around us.

This week is also Pollinator Week! If you'd like to help pollinators, check out the variety of resources at pollinator.org, or consider signing up for our Nectar Connectors campaign to help understand nectar availability for monarchs and other pollinators across the country. For some additional pollinator-related inspiration, check out this article from Smithsonian Magazine about Sara Dykman's incredible journey to raise awareness of the monarch butterfly's decline by biking alongside them on their 10,000 mile migration.

Sincerely,
What your data are telling us
Patterns in leaf out and color change
We have a decade of data on over a thousand species – thanks to your efforts! We can start to answer big picture questions, as this study did, finding that leaf out in spring comes earlier in response to longer days and spring warmth, and is delayed by freezes and lack of winter cold. Delayed phenology can be a good thing, protecting plants from false springs - or have a negative effect, by limiting the time plants have to take advantage of the growing season.

orange-leaves-tree.jpg
Redbud Phenology Project grows roots
Launched earlier this year, the Redbud Phenology Project seeks to better understand the timing of redbud flowering and fruiting, and whether the timing has advanced in recent years. We already have 102 observers contributing important data on redbud phenology. Join us!

What's new at Nature's Notebook and USA-NPN
Pheno forecasts inform pest management
This summer, our Pheno Forecast maps for species such as the evergreen bagworm moth are being used to know when to get our to treat pests. An article from the Commonwealth Journal of Somerset, Kentucky describes how to use the Forecast to know when to take action to prevent damage from bagworms.

Welcome, Tanner and Cristina!
Please join us in welcoming two new students to the USA-NPN National Coordinating Office team. Tanner Bland is an undergraduate at the University of Arizona with interests in restoration ecology and entomology. He will be our new Administrative Associate, replacing Reilly Rodriguez, who graduated last month. Congrats, Reilly, and best wishes on your next chapter!

Cristina Curran is a graduate student at the UA in the Epidemiology track at the College of Public Health. She will be assisting with development of mosquito activity forecasts. She carries on the work of Jessie Giles, MPH, who also just graduated. Well done, Jessie!

Tanner Bland (top) and Cristina Curran (bottom)
Recent happenings in the field of phenology
Empowering students with phenology
A new article from Native Science Report describes how the College of Menominee Nation is engaging Native students in observing phenology to provide hands-on learning of science and develop a strong connection to place.

Milkweed planted to help CA monarchs
Last year's annual western monarch count recorded fewer than 2,000 butterflies, at 99.9% decline since the 1980s. To support monarchs, conservation groups are planting 30,000 milkweed plants across California.

Nature's Notebook Nuggets
Making sense of flowers and fruits
A plant, even a small one, can have lots of activity occurring during the growing season. This visual complexity can make it difficult to understand when a phenophase has begun or ended. When observing for Nature’s Notebook, look only at the plant parts in the phenophase definition, and evaluate those individuals separately over the entire plant. With focus on the definition, it should be easier to determine whether any phenophase question deserves a "Yes" or a "No" response.

Photo: Ellen G. Denny
More ways to get involved
Best spots to see migratory birds
This article from the New York Times celebrates the migratory birds that can be spotted in various regions of the country. No matter where you go, there are interesting birds to see - don't forget to log your observations in Nature's Notebook!

Evening Grosbeak,
Photo: Tom Grey
Contact
Erin Posthumus
Outreach Coordinator
erin@usanpn.org
520-621-1670