Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens
by Douglas Tallamy
from Timber Press
The pressures on wildlife populations today are greater than they have ever been and many gardeners assume they can remedy this situation by simply planting a variety of flowering perennials, trees, and shrubs. As Douglas Tallamy points out in this revelatory book, that assumption is largely mistaken. Wild creatures exist in a complex web of interrelationships, and often require different kinds of food at different stages of their development.
There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife. When native plant species disappear, the insects disappear, thus impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. Fortunately, there is still time to reverse this alarming trend, and gardeners have the power to make a significant contribution toward sustainable biodiversity. By favoring native plants, gardeners can provide a welcoming environment for wildlife of all kinds.
Healthy local ecosystems are not only beautiful and fascinating, they are also essential to human well-being. By heeding Douglas Tallamy's eloquent arguments and acting upon his recommendations, gardeners everywhere can make a difference.
The Nature-Friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People
by Marlene A. Condon
from Stackpole Books
Many people approach gardening as a constant struggle with the outside world. They're perpetually at war with nature, investing in weed killers and fighting off deer and birds, all in an effort to preserve their garden as a pristine patch of earth. Marlene A. Condon proposes a radically different method: What if, instead of battling the natural world, we invite it into our backyards? The result is the nature-friendly garden, which attracts and meets the needs of common creatures--rabbits, toads, insects, squirrels, owls, and so on--while maintaining a thriving, varied landscape of flowers and plants. And as this thought-provoking guide demonstrates, coexisting with nature doesn't mean turning your yard into a bramble-infested wilderness. The sustainable, low-impact garden described in these pages is a model of environmental balance, fostering species diversity while keeping wildlife damage and invasive plant growth at an acceptable minimum. Best of all, it offers a privileged look at the workings of nature, and its advice on observing wildlife is sure to open up a new and fascinating world for even the most experienced gardener.
Squirrels: A Wildlife Handbook (Johnson Nature Series)
by Kim Long
from Johnson Books
A combination of illustrated field guide, fact book, and folklore collection, "Squirrels" is a new kind of wildlife book. This concise, illustrated handbook presents an accurate, informative portrait of squirrels in their natural habitat, along with an examination of their relationship to man.
Most Americans live in cities. The closest many get to wildlife is observing animals in parks and yards—the favorite habitat of the tree squirrel. Yet for all of the frequency with which they are observed, squirrels and their behavior are little understood. What do squirrels eat? How do they keep their food caches from spoiling? What is the most aggressive squirrel? Are there any squirrel-proof bird feeders? What role did squirrels play in ancient mythology?
From social interactions with early American cultures—both Native Americans and European settlers—to their role in local ecosystems, "Squirrels" provides animal lovers with the complete picture.
The Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places: African Americans Making Nature and the Environment a Part of Their Everyday Lives (Watchable Wildlife (Adventure Publications))
by Dudley Edmondson
from Adventure Publications(MN)
Nature in the City: Seattle : Walks, Hikes, Wildlife, Natural Wonders (Nature in the City)
by Kathryn True
from Mountaineers Books
FIND NATURE IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES: SEATTLE'S URBAN LANDSCAPE
One day you might kayak Union Bay to visit herons and turtles. The next, meet a friend downtown at lunch to see peregrine falcons nesting. Take a bike tour of salmon restoration projects along the Duwamish River. Or learn to identify lichens on gravestones, and where to hear Pacific treefrogs sing. Maria Dolan and Kathryn True share their insider knowledge, complemented by the expertise of Seattle naturalists and scientists.
* Trips are identified by location, length, and when to go
* Includes outings of less than one hour
* Suggested adventures for children
* Fact-filled sidebars on plants and animals
* Includes exursions to Everett, Vashon Island, Bellevue, and other outlying areas
Wildlife the Nature Paintings of Carl Brenders
by Carl Brenders
from Harry N. Abrams
Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art
by Andy Rouse
from Aurum Press
Following the success (25,000 copes sold and still going strong) of Joe Cornish's First Light: A Landscape Photographer's Art (ISBN 1 978 902538 24 2) Argentum is proud to present a companion volume by another photographer who is also a leader in his chosen genre.
Andy Rouse has gained a reputation for getting in close, really close, to his subjects which range from lions and elephants in Africa to penguins in Antarctica, taking in a whole host of African, European and North American wildlife on the way. In first part of this book, 'Visions' he presents the photographs, many never before published, which he feels were the landmarks in his career and in his development from a one 'big shot' specialist to an artist who can capture the whole story of a species and its environment.
Under the heading of 'Expression' he then discusses and illustrates the ideas and techniques which have enabled him to create a series of themed portfolios devoted to a single species or ecosystem, such as those he made in South Georgia and Antarctica. Finally, in 'Inspiration' he turns to the work of other wildlife photographers who have inspired and influenced him. There is also an appendix giving technical details of the individual photographs.
For aspiring wildlife photographers, this book will itself be an inspiration, showing just what can be achieved with skill, patience and an extraordinary eye for the telling and dramatic shot. But it will also be treasured by the host of wildlife enthusiasts who admire Andy's pictures, attend his lectures or watch his television programmes.
The Complete Backyard Nature Activity Book: Fun Projects for Kids to Learn About the Wonders of Wildlife and Nature
by Robin Michal Koontz
from McGraw-Hill
From an apartment-rail hummingbird feeder to a backyard bat house. . .from a butterfly-friendly window box to a nest full of baby swallows. . .here are simple instructions for creating inviting, easy-to-make feeders and havitats that will attract insects, birds, squirrels, bats, frogs, and other small creatures. Many of the projects use recycled materials. These enjoyable science-based activities are accompanied by attractive illustrations and amazing anecdotes, facts, and insights into the lifestyle of creatures.
The Professional Photographer's Guide to Shooting & Selling Nature & Wildlife Photos
by Jim Zuckerman
from Writer's Digest Books
Reel Nature : America's Romance With Wildlife on Film
by Gregg Mitman
from Harvard University Press
Americans have had a long-standing love affair with the wilderness. As cities grew and frontiers disappeared, film emerged to feed an insatiable curiosity about wildlife. The camera promised to bring us into contact with the animal world, undetected and unarmed. Yet the camera's penetration of this world has inevitably brought human artifice and technology into the picture as well. In the first major analysis of American nature films in the twentieth century, Gregg Mitman shows how our cultural values, scientific needs, and new technologies produced the images that have shaped our contemporary view of wildlife.
Like the museum and the zoo, the nature film sought to recreate the experience of unspoiled nature while appealing to a popular audience, through a blend of scientific research and commercial promotion, education and entertainment, authenticity and artifice. Travelogue-expedition films, like Teddy Roosevelt's African safari, catered to upper- and middle-class patrons who were intrigued by the exotic and entertained by the thrill of big-game hunting and collecting. The proliferation of nature movies and television shows in the 1950s, such as Disney's True-Life Adventures and Marlin Perkins's Wild Kingdom, made nature familiar and accessible to America's baby-boom generation, fostering the environmental activism of the latter part of the twentieth century. Reel Nature reveals the shifting conventions of nature films and their enormous impact on our perceptions of, and politics about, the environment.
Whether crafted to elicit thrills or to educate audiences about the real-life drama of threatened wildlife, nature films then and now reveal much about the yearnings of Americans to be both close to nature and yet distinctly apart.
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