The cover of The Pennsylvania Nature Journal

Guides Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Nature Journal

Twelve printable month pages: a reference side built from public nature data for your state, and a field-notes side that is yours.

  • Twelve month pages, one per month
  • A reference side built from public data for your state
  • A field-notes side that stays blank until you fill it
  • Undated — print it again every year
  • Designed for Letter and A4, one page per sheet

$14.00one-time

Instant download · yours to keep, with no account and no renewal · full refund within 30 days

A look inside

What the Pennsylvania pages actually look like

From the Pennsylvania edition

Some of what is actually in it

Each Pennsylvania month page carries that month's reference side — the blooms, trees and butterflies Pennsylvania actually has then. Names you will meet in it:

  • Bloodroot
  • Virginia Bluebells
  • Large-flowered Trillium
  • Wild Columbine
  • Mountain Laurel
  • New England Aster
  • Eastern Hemlock
  • Sugar Maple
  • Mountain Laurel
  • Eastern Redbud
  • Tulip Tree
  • White Oak
  • Monarch
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
  • Great Spangled Fritillary
  • Black Swallowtail
  • Mourning Cloak
  • Spicebush Swallowtail

How the Pennsylvania year breaks down

Counted, not claimed

Across the twelve Pennsylvania month pages the reference side draws on 6 wildflowers, 6 trees, 6 butterflies and 7 things coming into season locally.

In the box

Exactly what you receive

Pennsylvania pages15 pages — twelve month pages plus covers and how-to
FormatPDF, laid out for both Letter and A4
DeliveryAn instant download link, plus a link you can re-open for 72 hours
AccessYours to keep — no expiry, no account, no subscription
RefundsFull refund within 30 days, no questions

How it works

From checkout to the field

  1. Buy it

    Checkout takes a card and an email address — no account to create.

  2. Open it straight away

    The download link appears immediately and the Pennsylvania files are yours to keep.

  3. Use it through the year

    Print the Pennsylvania pages you want and take them outside; they are laid out with room to write on as the season moves.

Free and paid, side by side

The Pennsylvania pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.

The free Pennsylvania pagesThe Pennsylvania Nature Journal
What it coversThe month Pennsylvania is in, free and alwaysAll twelve Pennsylvania months, planned before they arrive
Garden timingThe notes for your zone, once the site knows itEvery Pennsylvania zone from 5a–7b, side by side on the page
Where you can read itOn a screen, wherever Pennsylvania has signalOn paper, in the field, with no signal at all
PriceFree, and staying that way$14.00 once — no renewal, no account

Before you buy

Who this is for

Made for

  • People who keep a record and want the reference already on the page
  • Teachers and parents doing a year of nature with a child
  • Anyone who prefers paper to another app

Not for

  • Anyone wanting a dated planner — these pages are deliberately undated so you can print them again next year

Everything here describes typical timing across Pennsylvania, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Pennsylvania pages say "usually early May" and never "May 4th", which is not hedging but the most the data can honestly carry.

Where it comes from

Compiled from

USGS Breeding Bird Survey · State fish & wildlife agencies · USA National Phenology Network · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center · Cooperative Extension (land-grant directory) · International Meteor Organization. How each of these is used in the Pennsylvania edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.

Questions

Before you decide

Is this specific to Pennsylvania, or a national guide with the name swapped in?

It is built from Pennsylvania's own data. Each month's reference side is written from Pennsylvania's data for that month, not a national average.

Pennsylvania spans several hardiness zones — which one does this cover?

All of them. Pennsylvania runs 5a–7b, and the guide carries each zone's timing rather than picking one and hoping it fits your garden.

How accurate is the timing for Pennsylvania?

It describes typical timing across Pennsylvania drawn from long-run records, and because weather, elevation and habitat move real Pennsylvania dates around it says "usually early May" rather than "May 4th".

Is it worth paying when the Pennsylvania pages here are free?

The free Pennsylvania pages are the month you are in; this is the whole Pennsylvania year, planned before it arrives and printable, so you are not holding a screen in the garden.

Will it work for my part of Pennsylvania, or just the big cities?

It is written at state resolution — Pennsylvania as a whole, with regional notes where Pennsylvania genuinely differs end to end, and nothing behind it is recorded finely enough to honestly promise more than that.

What format is the Pennsylvania edition, and can I print it?

A PDF laid out for both Letter and A4, one page per sheet — printing it is the point, since the Pennsylvania pages are made to be carried outside.

What if the Pennsylvania guide is not what I expected?

Email hello@birchcompass.com within 30 days for a full refund on the Pennsylvania edition, and keep the files either way — asking for them back would be theatre.

The rest of the Pennsylvania shelf

Also for Pennsylvania