Become a more attentive observer and deepen your appreciation for the natural world. The unique five-year calendar format of The Naturalist’s Notebook helps you create a long-term record and point of comparison for memorable events, such as the first songbird you hear in spring, your first monarch butterfly sighting of summer, or the appearance of the northern lights. Biologist Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and best-selling author Bernd Heinrich teach nature lovers of all ages what to look for outdoors no matter where you live, using Heinrich’s classic illustrations as inspiration. As you jot down one observation a day, year after year, your collected field notes will serve as a valuable record of your piece of the planet. This deluxe book, with a three-piece case, gilt edges, a burgundy ribbon bookmark, and a belly band with gold foil stamping, is a perfect gift for all nature lovers.

For nature-lovers, birders, and students of wildlife and biology, keeping a field notebook is essential to accurately recording outdoor observations. This unique guide offers instruction on how to do it-what to look for, what information should be recorded and how to organize it, basic drawing skills using line and color, and incorporating maps and charts, as well as advice on equipment to take in the field and using conventional field guides.

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.

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.

This book is designed to bring a few green shoots into what are quite dull, gray times. The natural world is on your doorstep whether you live in the heart of a concrete jungle, by the sea, on top of a mountain, or in a cottage in the woods. The Practical Naturalist is about giving you the wherewithal to explore that natural world. It will be inspirational, informative, and educational-it aims to inspire you to get out there and experience the wonders of the world around you, inform you by showing you what you can discover in each habitat and also give you tips on how to conserve it. Each section (habitat) will have three strands: 1 Informative section will tell you all you need to know about that particular habitat, bringing it to life in an evocative way. These spreads will also have boxes on the science and ecology of the habitat, and key practical aspects (such as how to read tide tables). The accompanying artwork style will retain that personal feel-not cold and clinical, but as if newly sketched (while still showing and telling you what you need to know). 2 Catalog section will show you what you'll see in that habitat-snapshots of groups of species belonging to a particular place to help you identify what you might see. For example, this section might show a collection of objects you'd find on a beach in New England. However, while it's specific, it's also generic, since you'd find similar things on any beach from Reykyavik to Rio. 3 The practical part: These are the elements that show you what to do in each habitat-a selection of projects that allow you to engage with the environment, without intruding. This section is specially photographed for the book, and might show a pond or sea water sample, a mask that allows you to view the underwater world, or a simple birdhouse for your backyard.

Fifty-two essays record the author's observations of plants and animals encountered on walks in different seasons of the year.