Earth Almanac: A Year of Witnessing the Wild, from the Call of the Loon to the Journey of the Gray Whale

You will want to shelve it beside your copies of Walden, Sand County Almanac, and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Ted’s Williams’s new book Earth Almanac, A Year of Witnessing the Wild, from the Call of the Loon to the Journey of the Gray Whale, is a compilation of his beloved glimpses into wild wonders from backyard to backcountry which appeared regularly for a time in Audubon Magazine. It is a rare species of book best sipped, savored, and reflected on in crystalline doses. Open it beside a cozy winter fire, in spring twilight as the peepers tune up, on a summer morning as you sip coffee on your deck under a singing tree, or at your favorite retreat with the scent of Autumn leaves coloring the air. Williams speaks with the heart of a poet, while unfolding some of nature’s secrets with the heart of an environmentalist. There are moments of astonishment: If you don’t want to use dung or carrion to attract a question mark butterfly on a mild winter (yes winter) day, you might lure one with the sap flowing from a broken maple twig! There are hints about living with nature—not apart from her: “To be chosen by eastern phoebes means that you and your dwelling have not pressed too harshly on the living earth.” And glimpses of pure beauty: “Never will you be quite ready for the silver fish that hurtles into the cold, wet air and hangs across black conifers or gray sky.” You will laugh at the unexpected and feel both awe and hope. It is a gift to be shared with young and old, who either love nature and want to know more or need to learn a few of her mysteries in order to begin to thirst for what they have been missing. The illustrations by John Burgoyne, both accurate and beautiful, and the design by Alethea Morrison help make this book a treasure.

Well written and lovely illustrations. Can pick this up anytime to read one of the seasonal based essays.

This is a book for animal lovers, outdoor enthusiasts and people who just love to learn cool things!Ted Williams, a longtime contributor to Audubon Magazine has put together essays, divided by season, which both informs and delights the reader.It’s a beautiful book. This would make an excellent gift for outdoor/nature lovers!Thank you to #StoreyPublishing and #NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book is beautifully collection of short,seasonal essays combined with in-depth information with expressive descriptions of nature’s marvels. Ted William's describes the weather conditions that bring out the brightest reds in autumn leaves, how the wolf spiders catch their prey, and why American goldfinches wait until late July or August to build their nests. Ted’s writing stands as a witness to the delicate balance of nature’s strength and delicate balance. He inspires readers to experience the natural world for themselves first hand and to become advocates for protecting and preserving the amazing diversity nature for future generations to follow .

‘Earth Almanac’ by Ted Williams is a fascinating yet easy read. The book is organized into 4 sections: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. Each starts with a short essay, followed by vignettes of various flora (plants) and fauna (animals) and a few natural wonders. Each vignette has a playful title.These are fact-based forays into the natural world. It’s also poetry. The vignettes sparkle and gleam and tell us of the magic that happens in North America (and by extension all over the planet) right in front of us. Magic and science are not supposed to coexist, but the author demonstrates that they clearly do.We get warm and fuzzy: “…bumblebees…. resemble winged teddy bears, and they are so good-natured that getting one to sting you is a major undertaking.” We read about a river otter’s game, diving for a stone to balance on its forehead. One can’t help but chuckle at eastern cottontail rabbits’ mating dance “leaping high into the air…kicking at the sky.” The prescription for loon music is appropriate for all humans everywhere.Yet not all is tranquil. There are brook trout stranded “… in dwindling pools of spring water, shaded only by tangles of jewelweed and cut off from the rest of the stream by sandbars that blaze scarlet with blooming cardinal flowers.” We find that fisher cats are one of the few animals that dare prey on porcupines, biting their faces and then going after their bellies. Or that 35 pound wolverines can chase down elk, reindeer and mountain sheep. And we hear of frogs that devour everything in sight.The facts can be astounding. You’ll learn that a spittlebug (what we used to call ‘spitbug’) works overtime churning out “as much as 300 times its own weight in sap a day.” Or that there are close to 7000 species of daddy longlegs on the planet. What? They’re not spiders? Who knew that porcupines have 30,000 barbed quills? It seems impossible. Or that there’s a fish that leaves the water to lay as many as 3000 eggs?The writing is exquisite. There’s this example of extended alliteration: “… sweet pepperbush fills the air with a fragrance that freezes the fleeting hours of August, drugs the droning bee, and transports aging wanderers of woods and water to a time when summer never ended and one’s only commitments were to fish, frogs and turtles.”Finally, there’s this challenge: “The black vulture is a bald-headed scavenger drawn flylike to filth, that gorges on rotting offal, that cools and disinfects its legs by hosing them down with acidic excreta, that hisses and grunts if you startle it on the ground, then projectile vomits into your face. So if your heart soars at the sight of the first black vulture of the spring, you have arrived as a naturalist.”I was sad when I finished ‘Earth Almanac’, but scrolling back I realized I could revisit this wonderful book at any time. It’s that accessible, and it’s highly recommended.