More Than Birds Adventurous Lives of North American Naturalists [Paperback]

Once people encounter the natural world and become aware of its intricacy, fragility, beauty, and significance, they will recognize the need for conservation.

The fascinating development of natural history studies in North America is portrayed through the life stories of 22 naturalists. The 19th century saw early North American naturalists such as Alexander Wilson, the Father of American Ornithology, John James Audubon, and Thomas Nuttall describing and illustrating the spectacular flora and fauna they found in the New World.

Scientists of the Smithsonian Institution and the Canadian Museum of Nature worked feverishly to describe and catalogue the species that exist on the continent. Great nature writers such as Florence Merriam Bailey, Cordelia Stanwood, Margaret Morse Nice, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, and Roger Tory Peterson wrote in depth about the lives and behaviours of birds. Early conservationists such as Jack Miner, the Father of Conservation, created nature preserves.

Today, noted naturalists such as Robert Nero, Robert Bateman, Kenn Kaufman, and David Allen Sibley do everything they can to encourage people to experience nature directly in their lives and to care about its protection and preservation.

This serviceable book might inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

Twenty-two profiles of significant naturalists, beginning with 19th-century Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon and including Jack Miner, Roger Tory Peterson, Robert Bateman, and David Allen Sibley, portray the development of natural heritage studies in North America. Their extraordinary stories inspire recognition of the need for conservation.Val Shushkewich has been studying the lives of birds for most of her life. This is her second book. She was born and raised in Winnipeg and is now living in San Francisco.Overall it was fun to read and enlightening to be reminded of the tremendous contributions each of these people made to the study olCŒ