bird watching

baby birds

 

    "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves        of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."

                              --Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

 

Nature has long been considered a cure for the troubled soul. Some studies have shown that time in nature is an antidote to stress: It can lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reduce nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood. It is also just plain fun! Especially with a few helpful suggestions to make your nature observations even more enjoyable.

 

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Look for more information about the animals you see during your nature observation in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia or PebbleGo

When a girl walks through the woods with her grandma, she's so excited about reaching their destination that she misses out on what's around her. But with Grandma's help, she learns how to breathe, be peaceful, and notice the little surprises along the way. Find mindfulness in nature through this gentle story.

Birds made out of yarn

One silver lining to the COVID-19 outbreak is that our lack of activity has benefited wildlife and the environment in unanticipated ways - including birds. Scientists have noted that fewer cars and planes makes a quieter soundscape for birds and humans. There may never have been a better time to enjoy birds and to fulfill your "Go Bird Watching" 62 Days 62 Ways square. The beauty of this activity is that you do not even have to leave the comfort of your home - just look out your window! Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

 

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The blue bird's palace by Orianne Lallemand

Inspired by the Russian storytelling tradition, this contemporary fairy tale about a relatable heroine's inner transformation from materialism to gratefulness will captivate readers of all ages. The Blue Bird's Palace has beautiful illustrations. Blue birds have been abundant this Spring! Check out Bird Books for the Young at Heart and other kid-friendly birding titles including emedia

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend."--Paul Sweeney

 

"Two FBI agents go undercover in the bureau's first wire-wearing operation, and end up befriending the charismatic con man they're charged with bringing down"--.

Also available in: e-book

A revolutionary new appraisal of the Old West and the America it made The open range cattle era lasted barely a quarter-century, but it left America irrevocably changed. These few decades following the Civil War brought America its greatest boom-and-bust cycle until the Depression, the invention of the assembly line, and the dawn of the conservation movement. It inspired legends, such as that icon of rugged individualism, the cowboy. Yet this extraordinary time and its import have remained unexamined for decades. Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today. The tale takes us from dust-choked cattle drives to the unlikely splendors of boomtowns like Abilene, Kansas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. We venture from the Texas Panhandle to the Dakota Badlands to the Chicago stockyards. We meet a diverse array of players--from the expert cowboy Teddy Blue to the failed rancher and future president Teddy Roosevelt. Knowlton shows us how they and others like them could achieve so many outsized feats: killing millions of bison in a decade, building the first opera house on the open range, driving cattle by the thousand, and much more. Cattle Kingdom is a revelatory new view of the Old West.

Scrapper by Matt Bell

For fans of The Dog Stars and Station Eleven , Scrapper traces one man's desperate quest for redemption in a devastated Detroit. "Has the feel of Cormac McCarthy's The Road set in present-day Motor City... powerful." -- Publishers Weekly Detroit has descended into ruin. Kelly scavenges for scrap metal from the hundred thousand abandoned buildings in a part of the city known as "the zone," an increasingly wild landscape where one day he finds something far more valuable than the copper he's come to steal: a kidnapped boy, crying out for rescue. Briefly celebrated as a hero, Kelly secretly avenges the boy's unsolved kidnapping, a task that will take him deeper into the zone and into a confrontation with his own past and long-buried traumas. The second novel from the acclaimed author of In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods , Scrapper is a devastating reimagining of one of America's greatest cities, its beautiful architecture, its lost houses, shuttered factories, boxing gyms, and storefront churches. With precise, powerful prose, it asks: What do we owe for our crimes, even those we've committed to protect the people we love?

A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective.

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