Review – James Davis' The Northwest Nature Guide
A Month by Month Guide to Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest
Sep 24, 2009
James Luther Davis’s The Northwest Nature Guide: Where to Go and What to See Month by Month in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia offers endless outdoor viewing every month of the year for nature lovers living in or visiting the Pacific Northwest.
The region is rich in wildlife. While deer and sea birds are exciting sights in the wild, many visitors miss the wealth of less common wildlife, like wintering swans, sage grouse during mating season, pronghorn and bighorn sheep and harlequin ducks. In lively, often humorous text, Davis gives a little natural history of these and dozens more animals and birds of the region, plus where to look for them and in exactly what month.
Wintering Birds and Frozen Waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge
In the dead of winter there are the bald eagles, found in greatest numbers in February and wintering owls best seen in January. Davis tells how to go wildlife viewing on skis, and invites readers to marvel at frozen waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge.
By March, it’s time for the iconic gray whale migrations. March also brings the first signs of spring, and Davis tells what trees to check for the first flowering.
Wildflowers, Butterflies and Mushrooms
Spring brings wildflowers in abundance, and this book tells exactly when blooming peaks in various locations throughout the wet western portion of the Northwest region, as well as the dry eastern section.
Summer, of course brings warm weather, butterflies, tidepools and orca watching in Washington and British Columbia, while fall brings migrating geese and mushrooms.
Each month details what animals and birds are within seasonal viewing range or newly arrived on seasonal migrations.
Best Bets for Viewing Northwest Nature
Each month has its own chapter, divided into opening discussions of primary species (and exceptional landscape features) to be seen, plus “Best Bets” for viewing those listed in each of the states and province covered.
“Nature Nuggets” and “A Closer Look” close each chapter with fascinating facts about Northwest ecology and seasonal changes, such as constellations of the winter sky, life cycles of various animals, why conifers dominate in the Pacific Northwest, and what makes an old growth forest.
A map in the front of the book shows locations for each of the viewing spots listed in “Best Bets.”
An extensive bibliography in the back lists books, including field guides, for every aspect of the region’s natural history from geology to birds and forests. Also listed are wildlife agencies and non-profits with contact information for Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
James Davis is a naturalist for Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces of the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. He is a former education director for the Audubon Society of Portland and a former teacher at Marylhurst University in Portland, where he helped start the university’s Head Start Summer Science Institute.
Publication Information:
The Northwest Nature Guide: Where to Go and What to See Month by Month in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, by James Luther Davis, Timber Press, 2009, 447 pages, $24.95.
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