9781611689891
9781512600131
Distributed for University Press of New England
Through a Naturalist’s Eyes
Exploring the Nature of New England
For native and visitor alike, the New England landscape has a rich allure. This grand sweep of land is a living tapestry woven of interconnected bioregions and natural communities whose compositions of plants and animals have evolved over time. In more than fifty essays, Michael J. Caduto brings readers into the complex stories to be found in nature. Drawing on first-hand experiences and reflections on the relationship between the natural world and humans, Caduto explores some of the plants, animals, natural places, and environmental issues of New England—from dragonflies, cuckoos, and chipmunks to circumpolar constellations and climate change. Stunning illustrations by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol illuminate these elegant and humorous essays.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments • Introduction • Prologue: Chipmunk CPR • ANIMALS • Mouse or Mole, Shrew or Vole? • Catamount: The Game Is Afoot • The Swifts of Summer • That’s the Nature of Coyotes, Deer • Endearing, Enterprising: The Eastern Chipmunk • Woodcocks in Mudtime • PLANTS • Blooming Heat: Skunk Cabbage Turned On by Pollination • Beyond the Pussy Willow: Early Spring Wildflowers • Explosive Seeds and Spores • Ghostly Parasite: Indian Pipe • Green Defenses: How Plants Fight Back • WINTER • A Burst of Boreal Birds • Cold Comfort for Trees • Snug as a Snow Bug • A Muskrat Winter • Biding Time: Winter Seeds and Buds • How Birds of a Feather Survive Winter Nights • HABITATS • The Great Pond Adventure • Breathing New Life into Old Fields • Remarkable Riparians • For Peat’s Sake • The Pond in Winter • WATER AND WETLANDS • The Comeback Canary: Our Common Loon • Dragonflies and Damselflies: Alpha Navigators, Bio-indicators • Eels on a Slippery Slope • Minute Mussel Makes Big Splash • Spring Peepers, Winter Sleepers • INTERRELATIONSHIPS • Saplappers and Bugnappers: The Keystone Sapsuckers • Pine on the Cob • Nature’s Own Herbicides • Of Cuckoos and Caterpillars • Big, Bold, and Rusty: Invasive Crayfish Has Claws • PATTERNS AND PERCEPTIONS • April Fools: Nature’s Myths and Misbeliefs • Stellar among the Stars: Circumpolar Constellations • Nature’s Secret Codes: Fascinating Fibonaccis • How Much Wool Would a Woolly Bear, Bear? • Phenomenal Phenology • HARVESTS AND HUNTS • Eat Your Weedies: Stalking the Backyard Buffet • Hunting with the Abenaki: Indigenous Wildlife Management • Scrumptious Seaweeds: Gastronomic Delights of the Thallophytes • Herps in the Garden: Snakes and Toads Provide Pest Control • Wild Nuts: Autumn Bounty, Holiday Treat • OUT OF BALANCE • Whither Fall Foliage in an Age of Climate Change • Heavy Metal Blues • Fang versus Fungus • Nesting Northward: Birds on the Move • Teenage Mutant Frogs • Sugar Maples: Not Sweet on Climate Change • STEWARDSHIP • The Beetle and the Paparazzi • Right of Passage for Migratory Fish • Days of the Living Un-Dammed • New Day for Nighthawks? • When Nature Comes Knocking