Great Lakes Nature: An Outdoor Year

by Mary Blocksma

Thus begins Mary Blocksma's ambitious quest to identify the flora and fauna of her Great Lakes home. With no big program, no particular organization, Blocksma sets out to identify her environment just a name at a time, a few times a week, for a year. Covering everything from blue moons and bald eagles to arbor vitae and lake-effect snow, this book transports the armchair explorer out of the living room and into the forests and wetlands of the Great Lakes.
A charming guide to the everyday but often overlooked ecological treasures that await the would-be naturalist, this book contains not just the names of plants and animals, but tips on buying birdfeeders, identifying spiders, and telling a blue jay from a belted kingfisher. Packed with helpful hints, novel trivia, and a useful "guide to guidebooks," Great Lakes Nature is sure to delight and educate.
Mary Blocksma is a freelance writer and artist. She has published more than twenty-one books, including Necessary Numbers, Great Lakes Solo, and Lake Lover's Year.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature

350 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice short articles about different nature observations throughout the year, with nice small illustrations and with a focus on identification. No scientific names, which is a negative for me (who likes scientific names). For someone just getting into an awareness of what's around them I would say this book is an excellent way to make nature observation and identification a habit. For myself, already having established nature observation as a habit I didn't find it as interesting or useful.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring book to take note of nature and the life around us. I love that she is utterly hopeless at first, but determined. I love her attempts at making things easy and making useful groupings to differentiate similar beasts. Cute stories and good advice for amateur naturalists. Some of her info is a bit over simplified but I think for good reason (and she does point out 90% of biology is true). I picked this up without remembering it was on my to read list because I adored her other book, and no wonder it seemed so familiar.


A wonderful book for everyone else who is intimidated by other amateur naturalists, whose experience seem hopelessly out of reach. It’s fun to watch her grow and develop.

[Kim Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me nearly a year to read but that was the plan since the author is writing about the wildlife and plants that one might see in Michigan during certain months. Hopefully I was able to retain some of many interesting facts she shared throughout the book.

[Thomasin Propson]

Oops! Returned to the library by accident before I was done! May come back to it in the future.