Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The New Naturalists

It seems we can make almost as many discoveries in the natural blog world as in the natural world itself. I've been learning so much lately from the impressive writers and photographers out there that it's almost like being out exploring myself. Thanks to all of you.

Today, I'd like to mention a couple in particular, as there seems to be a new breed of naturalists lurking out there. We have a traditional group out observing and exploring and appreciating, and another group out actually cataloguing, compiling lists of all kinds of organisms that share their homespaces, an equally honorable and traditional occupation.

It's a good day, several days actually, to check in with Matt at Sitka Nature again. His winter walks of late are bringing him everything from pine grosbeaks and minks to hummingbirds and lichens, all captured in excellent photos.

Through Matt's blog, I just discovered Henry, who is busy recording everything that lives and moves in his Oxfordshire lawn. He's up to 59 species so far, and his eye for detail is compelling. Like J. Henri Fabre, he is caught up in traveling across one backyard and finding what there is to see.

Both these gentlemen are well worth checking out. Like most of us, they seem to be amateur, self-taught naturalists who rely on books, in part, because of, as Matt says, "a sad lack of personal natural history elders/mentors."

If, in your travels online, you run across anyone else who should be recognized here, please comment. This humble blog gets few hits, but it is well connected (thank you, all, for links) and may help other naturalists find each other. Also, for those who haven't discovered it yet, see the Nature Blog Network, an even better way for us to stay connected.

3 comments:

Henry Walloon said...

Have you come across the works of Nobel Prizewinner Niko Tinbergen? His "Curious Naturalists"
and "The Herring Gull's World" can get arguably get a trifle bogged down in detail occasionally, but for me his writing wonderfully conveys the rewards of painstaking scientific observations of animal behaviour and, simultaneously, the sense of peace and wonder the natural world can instil in the naturalist. Well worth a browse if you've not discovered him already.

Thankyou so much for the kind review. I'm similarly delighted to meet a fellow lichen blogger.

I'm enormously impressed with the number of blog's you manage to maintain. Keep up the good work.

Henry

High Power Rocketry said...

Great great great!

Jackie said...

Your site is quite informative and I've enjoyed reading various posts. Your words get me to thinking and that is something I very much enjoy. I've linked to your site from my own.