Naturalist Jim

1
Naturalist Jims3 Steps to Discovering Nature

• Identify something
• Look it up
• Keep learning about it

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IDENTIFY SOMETHING
There are three main ways to

• Have someone tell you its name

• Use an illustration-based field guide

• Use a technical identification key

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How do we get things identified?
Teachers, park
rangers and others can tell us what things are.
However, here were interested in how to teach
ourselves. One way to do that is to use a field
guide.
The picture shows someone using a field guide to
identify a snake.
More info online HERE
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You can figure out how IDENTIFICATION KEYS work
by studying this one

• A Key to Five Objects on A Tiny Pacific Island
• A Object nonliving................................
  .. B
• AA Object living..................................
  .. C
• B Object massive, irregularly shaped, opaque,
  composed of natural minerals......................
  ........ ROCK
• BB Object slender, artificially shaped, made of
  transparent glass.............................
  BOTTLE
• C Object rooted, with green leaves................
  .. TREE
• CC Object not rooted, with legs, no
  leaves........... D
• D Object feathered, able to fly...................
  BIRD
• DD Object featherless, unable to fly.............
  HUMAN

But useful keys are much, much, much more
technical , more challenging and more fun --
than this one...
More info online HERE
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Once you have a name, then look it up

• in books (more info online about field
  guides, general books on nature,
  magazines, and scientific journals)
• on the Internet (More info online here)

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Then organize your information and keep adding to
it for the rest of your life.

• You can do this in your Nature Study Notebook
  or...

on your computer. (More info online here)
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7
Backyard Naturalists can use some simple tools
A scanner, to create great images such as the one
shown above More info online
BINOCULARS More info online
MAGNIFIERS More info online
The End