Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

There are those books that some of us have in our bookshelves that are from times gone by. For myself, one such book is a volume called "Bird-World" by J.H. Stickney with contributions by Ralph Hoffman written in 1898 (did I mention I love old books?) as a children's book for learning the very basics of bird identification and ornithology. The first story illustrates the core of 19th century romantic nature stories. The animals have humanistic characteristics and feelings that are conveyed through mannerisms, voice, color, size, or just about any other feature that the bird may possess. While I concede that being a children's book, some of the work is dumbed down in order to promote interest and understanding, but it would be equally valid to provide a platform that is educational, fun, and scientifically accurate towards the subject at hand. But that's just my opinion. Overall it's a cute summary of the life cycle of the American Goldfinch ( Spinus tr...

Welcome to part two of the birding reading list. Here are my next four submissions. Oology: Ralph's Talking Eggs by Carrol L. Henderson (2007) I picked this book up somewhere (I don't remember where) and was fascinated by the study and formerly rife practice of oology (the study of bird eggs and to a lesser extent, their nesting habits) which was pursued during the days of "shotgun ornithology" and market hunting, when the idea that such huge numbers of shorebirds, ducks, and pigeons ever running out was thought to be flights of fancy. I'm looking forward to it because it explains the tale of one such oologist named Ralph Handsaker who lived in the Midwest and started a collection of eggs that many other bird experts used to recognize all sorts of birds all over North America. It looks like an interesting read based on a formerly prominent hobby of many nature observers and amateur scientists and how it has had an impact on bird conservation and study in moder...