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This article was written by Maryland Master Wildlife Habitat
Naturalist Cathy Gilleland.
For more information or for the name of a Master Wildlife
Habitat Naturalist in your area, please contact:
WindStar Wildlife Institute
10072 Vista Court
Myersville, Maryland 21773
Phone: 301-293-3351
E-mail: wildlife@windstar.org
http://www.windstar.org
WindStar Wildlife Institute is a national, non-profit, conservation
organization whose mission is to help individuals and families
establish or improve the wildlife habitat on their properties.
Most botanists and more
advanced naturalists also
recommend Newcomb’s
Wildflower Guide for its
nearly foolproof key system.
While not a traditional field
guide, Mary Blocksma’s book,
Naming Nature, A Seasonal
Guide for the Amateur
Naturalist will be very
inspiring. The author begins:
“One day I was gazing out my
window at a stretch of trees
when I was suddenly struck
with the realization that I
couldn’t name any of them."
This started her on a year-
long project to name just a
few parts of the wildlife in her
environment each week. Many
of her experiences will
resemble your own, and the
results are very readable as
well as informative.
In the end, as Mary
Blocksma writes and so
many of us have felt, “...What
brings me joy is more than
knowing names. Many names,
like last summer’s
wildflowers, have already
faded away. It was the
process of naming that drew
me like a magnet into a
magnificence of green, pulled
me into flowers, opened my
ears to the cadences of
birds. For the first time, I
really feel like taking care of
things."
Gather your field guides
and start today to learn and
care for nature, and be sure
to share your knowledge and
inspiration with others.
RESOURCES
Books
s
Butterflies Through Binoculars,
Jeffrey Glassberg
s
Mushrooms of North America,
Orson K. Miller
s
Common Plants of the
Mid-Atlantic Coast, Gene Silberhorn
s
North American Wildlife, Reader’s Digest
s
Owls, An Introduction for the Amateur Naturalist,
Gorden Dee Alcorn
s
A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
s
The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats, Janine Benyus
Internet
s
For dragonflies:
www.dragonflies.org/catalog.htm
s
For butterflies:
www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/
bflyusa.htm
