Events

March 16-20, 2026 is Phenology Week - a virtual celebration of the seasonal cycles of plants and animals. The purpose of Phenology Week is to celebrate YOU, Nature's Notebook observers, Local Phenology Programs, and partners! 

We'll have webinars, awards, daily challenges, observer stories, and more.

The first serious book I ever read was Alone by Richard E. Byrd. A gift from my father when I was eight, the book is a memoir about Byrd’s over-winter in Antarctica in the early 1930s. The book shaped my life around these themes: spending time alone, living a mobile life, making observations about the world around me, and shaping my life around the seasons.

Much of this is true of anyone who practices phenology, but the mobile part is distinct. In my talk, I will take you with me as I follow the seasons, back and forth between Acadia Park in Maine and the Pacific Coast in San Diego in my Dodge Grand Caravan, which I have fitted out for this grand sort of life.

Bio: Mark Hineline was trained as an interdisciplinary scholar in history, philosophy and sociology of science. He has taught at the University of California, San Diego, and is the author of Ground Truth: A Guide to Tracking Climate Change at Home..