When it comes to lists of common phobias, arachnophobia – the fear of spiders – almost always makes the top ten, and more often than not, the top five. Some have even argued that the fear of spiders, like the fear of snakes, is an innate fear – people are simply born with it thanks […]
Back in December of 2021, I published a review of Prof. Matt Ritter’s 2016 book “A Californian’s Guide to the Trees Among Us,” a work that admittedly had been in print for some time but having just then recently been brought to my attention I found so impressive and useful that I wanted to make certain my readers were aware of it. Little did I know at the time that Dr. Ritter’s book was scheduled for a new edition.
Down the road from our home is a grove of Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) trees. Native to the area, “Doug Firs” are easily found in most any field guide to trees that encompasses a geographic range in which northwest Oregon is included. However at the edge of this little grove is another tree – deciduous and smaller – that long perplexed me. Nothing in guide after guide to which I turned for guidance seemed to have anything quite like it depicted.
There are two basic patterns of thought when it comes to field guides of bird species. The first is to obtain one that covers a large number of species, including any possible rarities, so that any bird seen while afield is within the scope of potential reference. The other is to select one that is […]