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Marcia Bonta is a naturalist-writer who has lived on a 500-acre mountain-top farm in central Pennsylvania for twenty years. Appalachian Spring is her personal account of that glorious spectacle - the coming of the spring to the woods and fields of Appalachia.The book begins with spring preliminaries in January and February when gray squirrels mate and the great horned owls conduct their courtship rites. Then, with the onset of true spring, the intricacies of the season unravel day by day in journal entries that combine Bonta's own meticulous observations with the research reported by botanists, entomologists, and other natural scientists.She recounts her hours spent watching an active red fox den or observing the drumming of a male ruffed grouse - all without the benefit of a blind. She discovers new-born fawns on the trail and hen turkeys with their poults in the field. A black bear peers into her sitting room window; deer play tag in her front yard.Birdwatching is an integral part of her spring ritual; she records both the return of nesting species and the passing through of migrants. She spends a blustery St. Patrick's Day following a flock of American pipits foraging in her field, discovers and watches an ovenbird nest beside her trail, and counts twenty-three species of wood warblers during one spectacular day in mid-May.Every aspect of the natural world catches her eye, from tthe life cycle of a tent caterpillar to the sex life of a jack-in-the-pulpit. But while she considers her book to ber her own love sone about the place and season on earth she loves most, she also mourns the continual exploitation of the natural earth by humanity for its own often superficial uses. She hopes, by recounting the wonders of the natural world, to convert others to what she calls the "third stage" in humanity's relationship with nature, that of empathy with all of nature for its own sake. "To know the earth better, to grasp a little of its workings, to look on it with awe and wonder as well as with respect, is to want to save it from destruction."
Natural history narratives for more than 300 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians found in Pennsylvania and throughout the northeastern United States-written in an engaging, straightforward style.
Once in a great while, as the New York Times noted recently, a naturalist writes a book that changes the way people look at the living world. John James Audubon’s Birds of America, published in 1838, was one. Roger Tory Peterson’s 1934 Field Guide to the Birds was another. How does such insight into nature develop? Pioneering a new niche in the study of plants and animals in their native habitat, Field Notes on Science and Nature allows readers to peer over the shoulders and into the notebooks of a dozen eminent field workers, to study firsthand their observational methods, materials, and fleeting impressions. What did George Schaller note when studying the lions of the Serengeti? What lists did Kenn Kaufman keep during his 1973 “big year”? How does Piotr Naskrecki use relational databases and electronic field notes? In what way is Bernd Heinrich’s approach “truly Thoreauvian,” in E. O. Wilson’s view? Recording observations in the field is an indispensable scientific skill, but researchers are not generally willing to share their personal records with others. Here, for the first time, are reproductions of actual pages from notebooks. And in essays abounding with fascinating anecdotes, the authors reflect on the contexts in which the notes were taken. Covering disciplines as diverse as ornithology, entomology, ecology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, and animal behavior, Field Notes offers specific examples that professional naturalists can emulate to fine-tune their own field methods, along with practical advice that amateur naturalists and students can use to document their adventures.
Scott Weidensaul follows hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, Bar-tailed Godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 7,000 miles nonstop across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, and the Myriad Songbirds whose numbers have dwindled so dramatically in recent years.
Winter is the season that most tests our mettle. There are the obvious challenges of the weather-freezing rain, wind chill, deep snow, dangerous ice-but also the psychological burdens of waiting for spring and the enduring often false starts that accompany its eventual return. On the surface, perhaps, winter might seem an odd season for a nature book, but there is plenty of beauty and life in the woods if only we know where to look. The stark, white landscape sparkles in the sunshine and glows beneath the moon on crisp, clear nights; the opening up of the forest makes it easy to see long distances; birds, some of which can be easily seen only in winter, flock to feeders; and animals-even those that should be hibernating-make surprise visits from time to time. Appalachian Winter offers acclaimed naturalist Marcia Bonta's view of one season, as experienced on and around her 650-acre home on the westernmost ridge of the hill-and-valley landscape that dominates central Pennsylvania. Written in the style of a journal, each day's entry focuses on her walks and rambles through the woods and fields that she has known and loved for over thirty years. Along the way she discovers a long-eared owl in a dense stand of conifers, tracks a bear through an early December snowfall, explains the life and ecological niche of the red-backed vole, and examines the recent arrival of an Asian ladybug. These are but a few of the tidbits sprinkled throughout the book, interwoven with the human stories of Bonta's family, as well as the highway builders and shopping-mall developers that threaten the idyllic peacefulness of her mountain. This is the fourth and final volume of Bonta's seasonal meditations on the natural history of the northern Appalachian Mountains. Her gentle, charming accounts of changing weather and of the struggles faced by plants, animals, and insects breathe new warmth into the coldest months of the year.
The California Naturalist Handbook provides a fun, science-based introduction to California’s natural history with an emphasis on observation, discovery, communication, stewardship and conservation. It is a hands-on guide to learning about the natural environment of California. Subjects covered include California natural history and geology, native plants and animals, California’s freshwater resources and ecosystems, forest and rangeland resources, conservation biology, and the effects of global warming on California’s natural communities. The Handbook also discusses how to create and use a field notebook, natural resource interpretation, citizen science, and collaborative conservation and serves as the primary text for the California Naturalist Program.
"John Bartram was the greatest horticulturist and botanist of eighteenth-century America, a farmer-philosopher who won the patronage of King George III and Benjamin Franklin. His son William was a pioneering naturalist who documented his travels though the Florida wilderness in prose and drawings that inspired a generation of romantic poets." "As he follows the Bartrams through their respective careers - and through the tenderness and disappointment of the father-son relationship - Slaughter examines the ways in which each viewed the natural world: as a resource to be exploited, as evidence of divine providence, as a temple in which all life was interconnected and sacred."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A collection of the writings of 25 women naturalists of the late 19th through early 20th century, with biographical profiles. Writings by naturalists including Susan Fenimore Cooper, Alice Eastwood, Ynes Mexia, E. Lucy Braun, and Rachel Carson recount travels and findings and discuss vanishing species and deforestation. Includes bandw photos. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR