Target: First Occurrences during a season—or simply “Firsts”.- Importance to Food & Agr: One of the easiest things to notice and compare year to year is the first date that a species is seen or an event happens. A part of phenology (seasonal happenings) observations, this is singled out due to its simplicity and usefulness. For farmers and gardeners, such records relating to crop and livestock occurrences are an essential part of recordkeeping—providing insights into changes in growing conditions over time.
- Issues: As mentioned in the phenology section, besides variations from year-to-year, longer term changes, disruptions, and mis-matches in timing due to climate change are of increasing importance, often requiring adaptations in our growing systems.
- Observing Options: Either at home, at work, or in the classroom, simply record on a calendar when a bird or insect is first seen in the year, a plant flowers, a vegetable is first ready to harvest, young are born, the first frost occurs, the first snow falls, or any similar phenomenon. Sharing this among neighbors, fellow growers, and others is a great way to follow trends in growing conditions and climate change.
Celebrate Firsts: Many of these occurrences are worth celebrating—especially when local foods become first available—think asparagus, strawberries, corn, and more!
- Citizen Science: Journey North has many observation categories such as Hummingbirds, Ice-out, Bald Eagles, Leaf-out, and more that are well suited to reporting firsts and seeing similar reports on maps across the country. In addition, most of the other citizen science programs for indicators in this section allow you to post “Firsts” and note “First Occurrence” in their comments section and compare with other observers in your area or nationwide.
- Getting Started Tip: Simply start recording first occurrences of any type on your calendar (or your garden, farm, or ranch records). A desk calendar often has room for such notations, and you can enter those notations at the end of the year into a summary table to compare yearly dates.
