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Natural Encounters: Biking, Hiking, and Birding Through the Seasons
A twelve-month excursion through nature’s seasons as recounted by a lifetime naturalist
In this “personal encyclopedia of nature’s seasons,” lifetime naturalist Bruce Beehler reflects on his three decades of encountering nature in Washington, D.C. The author takes the reader on a year‑long journey through the seasons as he describes the wildlife seen and special natural places savored in his travels up and down the Potomac River and other localities in the eastern and central United States. Some of these experiences are as familiar as observing ducks on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., or as unexpected as collecting fifty‑million‑year‑old fossils on a Potomac beach.
Beyond our nation’s capital, Beehler describes trips to nature’s most beautiful green spaces up and down the East Coast that, he says, should be on every nature lover’s bucket list. Combining diary entries, riffs on natural subjects, field trips, photographs, and beautiful half‑tone wash drawings, this book shows how many outdoor adventures are out there waiting in one’s own backyard. The author inspires the reader to embrace nature to achieve a more peaceful existence.
In this “personal encyclopedia of nature’s seasons,” lifetime naturalist Bruce Beehler reflects on his three decades of encountering nature in Washington, D.C. The author takes the reader on a year‑long journey through the seasons as he describes the wildlife seen and special natural places savored in his travels up and down the Potomac River and other localities in the eastern and central United States. Some of these experiences are as familiar as observing ducks on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., or as unexpected as collecting fifty‑million‑year‑old fossils on a Potomac beach.
Beyond our nation’s capital, Beehler describes trips to nature’s most beautiful green spaces up and down the East Coast that, he says, should be on every nature lover’s bucket list. Combining diary entries, riffs on natural subjects, field trips, photographs, and beautiful half‑tone wash drawings, this book shows how many outdoor adventures are out there waiting in one’s own backyard. The author inspires the reader to embrace nature to achieve a more peaceful existence.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published May 21, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 21, 2022
Places to go and things to do outside in the mid-Atlantic, with a scattering of other visits along the East Coast. There's something here for the long-timer and the newcomer as well. Some of Beehler's descriptions are very brief, so you'll need to do some follow-up research before you visit.
O, for an updated edition of Claudia Wilds's detailed Finding Birds in the National Capital Area (1992).
Beehler notes changes that have taken place since Louis J. Halle's Spring in Washington(1947) and earlier work by Robbins, Peterson, and Chapman, like the range expansion of Lesser Black-backed Gull. (pp. 117-119)
I was taken by his description of Black Vulture as "the junkyard dog of carrion-eaters." (p. 198)
O, for an updated edition of Claudia Wilds's detailed Finding Birds in the National Capital Area (1992).
Beehler notes changes that have taken place since Louis J. Halle's Spring in Washington(1947) and earlier work by Robbins, Peterson, and Chapman, like the range expansion of Lesser Black-backed Gull. (pp. 117-119)
I was taken by his description of Black Vulture as "the junkyard dog of carrion-eaters." (p. 198)
May 13, 2020
Enjoyed the book very much. Wonderful reading. However, I wish he would have included photographs of the birds he mentioned.
July 9, 2023
10/5 stars: such a hyper-specific book focusing on the passage of 12 months of nature in the DC region. Underlined and earmarked virtually every page!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews