The ominous photo above was taken in my parents’ barn, host to Ravens these past few years (see my article about this here: Return of the Ravens). You could almost imagine they were Odin’s Ravens, Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory), perfect to herald a look back at this past blogging year. It’s time for my anniversary article to summarize my year’s writing and reading. This year I was much less productive on the blog than I have been in previous years, but we’ll see how next year goes!
This past year, I only published 4 blogposts, and some of those were rather short. The first was my now-annual Year in Photos post (I am currently working on this year’s edition). And the following three cover some of the amazing moths that I observed at an event 2 years ago: Sphingidae, Erebidae, and Limacodidae. I have such a backlog of observations/writings that I would like to see posted on my blog and I will get to them… eventually…
Let’s take a look at what nature books I’ve read this past year with a brief review and thoughts:
Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest: A Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds and Selected Fishes, by Andy Lamb and Bernard Hanby:
Excellent photographic overview of the diversity of coastal marine life in the Pacific Northwest. The text is not meant to be comprehensive for identifying or comprehensive for life history attributes, more a selection of interesting facts or occasional anecdotes about the species covered. I really enjoy these types of books for driving home once more that there is so much biodiversity out there.
Freshwater Fishes of North America: Volume 1: Petromyzontidae to Catostomidae, by Melvin Warren and Brooks Burr, Illustrated by Joseph Tomelleri:
Very in-depth look at a selection of fish families of North American freshwaters. The focus is on behaviour, ecology, physiology, and giving a family-level overview of the diversity of fishes in North America that inhabit fresh water.
The Desert Bones: The Paleontology and Paleoecology of Mid-Cretaceous North Africa, by Jamale Ijouiher:
An overview of an ancient ecosystem, mostly listing the inhabitants with excellent artistic reconstructions for almost all of the vertebrate genera mentioned and even many invertebrates.
Mesozoic Art: Dinosaurs and Other Ancient Animals in Art, Edited by Steve White and Darren Naish:
Beautiful art portfolios showcasing the diverse artistic talent in the Paleoart world. Wonderful windows into lost worlds of the past, with excellent context supplied by Darren Naish. A book I will read and flip through many times in the future.
Walking With Dinosaurs: The Evidence, By Dave Martill and Darren Naish:
This was a really fun read, all about the fossil evidence that was behind the Walking With Dinosaurs BBC documentary (which I recently rewatched). Fascinating how much and how little we know about the lost world of the dinosaurs.
The Snakes of Ontario: Natural History, Distribution, and Status, by Jeffrey C. Rowell:
Amazing to read a book like this with such a narrow focus both taxonomically (Snakes) and geographically (the Province of Ontario). It’s not a field guide, though it gives many details to help distinguish snake species from each other. It is an in depth overview of Snake natural history in Ontario, an excellent reference work.
Saurian – A Field Guide to Hell Creek, by Tom Parker, Chris Masna, and R. J. Palmer:
Beautiful artwork, love the window onto a vanished ecosystem. I especially loved the guest artwork pages at the end because it gave the feeling of varied artists visiting this extinct ecosystem and creating pictures from their observations.
And… that concludes this blogversary article. For previous blogversary posts, see:
–Happy Birthday, Norfolk Naturalist!
–Happy 2nd Birthday, Norfolk Naturalist!
–Happy 3rd Birthday, Norfolk Naturalist!
–Happy 4th Birthday, Norfolk Naturalist!
–Happy 5 Years, Norfolk Naturalist!
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