An almanac is an annual publication presenting a calendar for the coming year, one concerned less with Hallmark holidays and alternate side of the street parking regulations than with the cyclical occurrence of natural phenomena. Almanacs track tide tables, moon phases, sunrises and sunsets, and meteorological and astronomical activity of every kind. Studying the influence of climate on the recurrence of such annual floral and faunal phenomena as budding and bird migrations, a science called phenology, is a noble pursuit indeed. A naturalist is not made in a day or a month, but rather tempered by decades of patient observation to matters both minute and massive.

Most birders are nascent phenologists, but some are more fully formed. The most conscientious of these keep their own journals, scrupulously amassing the data from which great almanacs arise. Many bird and nature bloggers are on this path, whether they know it or not, but few are as deliberate or delightful as Deb, who keeps her own Sand Creek Almanac. Deb’s commitment to the good life involves lots of good food and music along with an attentive immersion in the natural world. Thankfully, she’s found room to also host I and the Bird #32.

Is your blog a font of phenology? Do you occasionally chronicle the passage of birds, their movements and mysteries? I and the Bird is the right place to share your sightings. Send a link and a summary to me or our next splendid host, Kay of Don’t Mess With Taxes. Our next edition is scheduled for Thursday, September 28, so get in touch with one of us by Tuesday, September 26.

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.