About OpenPhenology
Nature, understood through evidence. OpenPhenology shows when wild species are recorded through the year, and the evidence behind each answer.
What it shows
For each species, OpenPhenology shows the weeks of the year when people record it, for a state and for each county. It's built from public records shared on iNaturalist and GBIF, counted the same way for every species. It covers Ohio for now.
What it doesn't claim
These results show when people recorded a species, not when or where it occurs. When the records aren't enough to say, the site says so instead of guessing.
Protecting species
Some species can be harmed if people know exactly where to find them, through collecting, poaching or simply too many visitors. For these species, OpenPhenology never shows where a record was made more precisely than its county.
A species is treated this way when any of these protects it:
- the federal list of endangered and threatened species
- Ohio's lists of endangered and threatened animals and plants
- iNaturalist, which hides the locations of some species
For these species, the site also leaves out:
- links to the original records
- results for parks
- when the latest records were made
- photos taken at a record's location
Records near a state line are protected when either state protects the species. When we can't be sure whether a species needs protecting, we protect it. Some common species are protected for that reason, and we'd rather protect too much than too little.
If you think a page could help someone find a protected species, please let us know privately.
Noncommercial
OpenPhenology is noncommercial. It has no ads, sells no data, and has no paid features. It is paid for by the people who run it, and may later be supported by grants or donations, which never buy anything on the site.
In beta
OpenPhenology is in beta. Results, pages and the data package may still change as the method and the site are tested. Published data files keep their format version, so a change to a file's meaning comes as a new version, never silently.
If something looks wrong or is hard to use, please tell us.
More about OpenPhenology
- MethodsHow seasons are found, in plain words, with every number the method uses.
- Reading the dataWhat to keep in mind, and the blind spots of data people record.
- SourcesWhere the records, names, ranges and maps come from, and their licences.
- Data and APIEvery result as open files, for anyone and any program to use.
- TermsThe terms for using the site and its data.
- PrivacyWhat the site collects, and what it never collects.
- ContactHelp, corrections and security reports.
OpenPhenology is run by Shackelford Creative, LLC.