Four children’s books bring nature into the home on these cool days and nights. “Exploring the World of Raccoons” ($7), for readers ages 7 to 10, captures a raccoon’s life in seven chapters.
Readers can have an anatomy lesson as well as read about raccoon strategies for staying alive and bringing kits into the world.
“Animal Snoops: The Wonderful World of Wildlife Spies” ($12), for readers ages 8 and older, takes the approach that much animal behavior falls under the category of snooping and spying.
So the geometrid moth eavesdrops on the ultrasonic frequency of its enemy, the bat, allowing it to start zig-zagging when the bat is near.
The female common goldeneye often pokes her head into another female’s nest to discover the best mothers. The next year, she may lay a few of her eggs in the tree cavities of the expert caregivers.
“Amber: The Natural Time Capsule” ($30), for children in the sixth grade and higher, explores the world of amber, the fossilized resin (not sap) that blocks gaps in tree bark.
Learn tests to see if an amber necklace is genuine, check out the variety of insects that have been trapped by amber, including one with a spider and a cricket in the same piece, and admire beautiful amber carvings. The book dedicates a large section to identifying the insects inside.
“Earth Heroes: Champions of Wild Animals” ($12), for readers ages 10 to 14, tells the story of eight people who have made a difference. Each has a chapter, complete with “fast facts” and a timeline.
There are the well-known, including Rachel Carson and Roger Tory Peterson, as well as less-famous folks, including William Hornaday, who saved the American buffalo from extinction; and E.O. Wilson, who discovered the first fire ant colony in the U.S. and became the world’s authority on ants.
And as always, adults can learn a lot from these books too.
Recently published adult reads are “Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest” ($30). It discusses, with color photographs and diagrams, more than 250 fish by species.
Washington’s own Robert Michael Pyle is back with “Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year” ($27). Pyle spent 2008 traveling to see how many of 800 species he could spot, driving 33,000 miles.
His goal was 500; he found 478 species, vetted by a panel of experts. As in “Chasing Monarchs,” it’s the journey, not a number, which is the star of this show, the first Butterfly Big Year on record.
Endangered species and wildlife areas: Comments must be in by Nov. 1 on the proposed plan that would provide Endangered Species Act compliance for the state’s 32 wildlife areas (with some caveats).
The proposed habitat conservation plan would allow for incidental taking of 32 listed ESA species. The state could continue to restore habitat, maintain roads and fences and even allow horseback riding (with proper measures), even if a protected species was unintentionally harmed.
For more information, go to www.fws.gov/wafwo.
Get out the mothballs: Six state parks may be mothballed because of continued budget cuts, including Flaming Geyser, Federation Forest, Peshastin Pinnacles and Squak Mountain.
Apparently they were the parks with the lowest percentage of revenue to expenses although only two will save more than $100,000.
Beaks up: The 14th annual Great Backyard Bird Count will run Feb. 18 to 21, a free event for bird-watchers of all ages.
The last GBBC was a record-breaker with more than 97,300 bird check lists submitted by about 63,000 volunteers in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, go to www.birdcount.org.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 260-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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