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Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, the first color-illustrated field guide to these marvelously diverse and elusive creatures, has enjoyed tremendous success since its initial publication in 1990. Ecotourists and field researchers alike have applauded this guide's compact size, light weight, and durability. More important, they have appreciated its clear and concise accounts of the mammals of this broad region. Each species account includes information on identifying characteristics, similar species, vocalizations, behavior and natural history, geographic range, conservation status, local names, and references to the scientific literature.

In this completely revised and updated second edition:

A total of 226 species are treated in full (206 were included in the first edition).

All species accounts retained from the first edition have been updated to include the most recent research.

All 195 maps showing the distribution and geographic range of each species have been revised to reflect the most current information.

Twenty-nine beautiful color plates illustrate more than 220 species (including significant color variants between males and females or adults and young). Seven black-and-white plates contain more than 60 images of individual species, mainly bats.

A compact disc of mammal vocalizations—crucial to identifying nocturnal and otherwise cryptic animals that sometimes may be heard rather than seen—will be available for purchase separately.

Praise for the first edition:

"If you can't go to the Central and South American rain forests to see firsthand their threatened ecosystems, here is the next best thing."—Washington Post Book World

"A large amount of information is presented concisely and in a way that is easy to use."—Choice

"The presentation and wealth of information contained in this field guide is outstanding and will satisfy the needs of both the 'tourist' and 'researcher' traveling to the Neotropics."—Canadian Field-Naturalist

New England Wildlife presents the natural histories and distributions of 338 inland wildlife species in New England. It also details the habitat relationships of all New England terrestrial and aquatic species, presented in sections on amphibians and reptiles, birds, and mammals. Each species account includes an illustration and range map, along with information on distribution in the region, status, habitat, special habitat requirements, details of breeding biology, home range and movements, and food habits, each fully documented from the pertinent literature. The introduction includes a brief land-use history of the region, descriptions of forest types and nonforest habitats, and wildlife responses to landscape change. A necessity for all land managers and naturalists as well as birders, walkers, nature lovers, residents, and visitors to New England, the book includes the most recent information on natural history and distribution, and matrices relating all species to standard classifications of forest cover - types and nonforest habitats.

Acclaimed New Mexico author Rudolfo Anaya presents a northern New Mexico Christmas tale in this third volume from his Owl in a Straw Hat series featuring the loveable Ollie Tecolote and his Wisdom School classmates Uno the Unicorn, Jackie Jackalope, Bessie Beaver, Sally Skunk, Robbie Rabbit, and Ninja Raccoon. The story begins on Christmas Eve morning in Chimayó and the students play in the snow and decorate a Christmas tree for the classroom. They are looking forward to the evening’s activities. Nana, their teacher, is making posole and chile colorado and has invited some special guests to join them for dinner. After that Nana says they’ll walk to El Santuario to visit the Santo Niño and promises hot chocolate and biscochitos afterward! Along the way, they will act the parts of the shepherds in Los pastores, the Shepherds’ Play, which is about shepherds visiting the newborn baby Jesus and bringing him gifts. At the end of their journey, they too will visit the Nativity and bring their own gifts on this magical night.

A celebrated figure in myth, song, and story, the nightingale has captivated the imagination for millennia, its complex song evoking a prism of human emotions,—from melancholy to joy, from the fear of death to the immortality of art.
But have you ever listened closely to a nightingale’s song? It’s a strange and unsettling sort of composition—an eclectic assortment of chirps, whirs, trills, clicks, whistles, twitters, and gurgles. At times it is mellifluous, at others downright guttural. It is a rhythmic assault, always eluding capture. What happens if you decide to join in?
As philosopher and musician David Rothenberg shows in this searching and personal new book, the nightingale’s song is so peculiar in part because it reflects our own cacophony back at us. As vocal learners, nightingales acquire their music through the world around them, singing amidst the sounds of humanity in all its contradictions of noise and beauty, hard machinery and soft melody. Rather than try to capture a sound not made for us to understand, Rothenberg seeks these musical creatures out, clarinet in tow, and makes a new sound with them. He takes us to the urban landscape of Berlin—longtime home to nightingale colonies where the birds sing ever louder in order to be heard—and invites us to listen in on their remarkable collaboration as birds and instruments riff off of each other’s sounds. Through dialogue, travel records, sonograms, tours of Berlin’s city parks, and musings on the place animal music occupies in our collective imagination, Rothenberg takes us on a quest for a new sonic alchemy, a music impossible for any one species to make alone. In the tradition of The Hidden Life of Trees and The Invention of Nature, Rothenberg has written a provocative and accessible book to attune us ever closer to the natural environment around us.
 

The adventures and lessons continue in this second book featuring “Owl in a Straw Hat” (Ollie Tecolote). This book tackles the subject of bullying of classmates for being different. Jackie Jackalope is missing from school and the teacher (Ollie’s grandmother) gets to the bottom of it. The kids have been teasing Jackie about her horns and she has run away to her parents in Pot of Gold Land. A contrite Ollie along with Uno the Unicorn (both guilty of teasing) volunteer to find and bring Jackie back to school. Their journey to Jackie’s home leads to encounters with three guardians of the Dark Forest (NM monsters/legends): La Llorona, El Kookoóee, and Skeleton Woman; and the Golden Carp who allows them to cross Rainbow Bridge. They reach Jackie and apologize and take her back to Wisdom School. Rudolfo Anaya’s magical characters are brought to life by illustrator El Moisés.

There are many field guides to birds of the United States. Refer to one if you want to know which colors go exactly where on these thirty-three precisely drawn illustrations. Or create your own fantastic ornithological kingdom by using the brightest shades and patterns you can imagine. It’s almost impossible to improve upon the natural colors of the abstract-art-themed wood duck or the well-named painted bunting, but there’s no reason not to give the American robin a makeover.

The birds are arranged in order of their evolutionary history so that you can see the relationships among species and families. Some of them, like the northern cardinal, are familiar backyard friends; some, like the mountain quail and American bittern, are wary denizens of brushlands and marshes; and some, like the great horned owl, are seldom seen in daylight. One, unfortunately, is extinct—the bright and raucous Carolina parakeet, which once ranged widely in huge noisy flocks. All are waiting for you to bring them to life with your own vibrant colors. 
 

Northern Fishes was first published in 1974. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

With the greatly increased interest in fishes and fishing since the earlier editions of this work were published, there has been need for a revised version of this indispensable book on the fishes of the Upper Mississippi Valley. This, the third edition, revised, of Northern Fishes by Samuel Eddy and Thaddeus Surber, contains much new material and up-to-date information based on current knowledge about fishes, their environment, and fishing techniques.

The book covers more than 160 species with descriptions and line drawings to illustrate almost all of them. The authors discuss recently introduced species and their importance to sportsmen and provide current data on the distribution of northern fishes. There are keys for the identification of the species and information about where they are found and their habits. This edition also contains a number of additions to the species list which result from rather extensive collecting of specimens since the earlier editions were compiled.

Before presenting the data on individual species, the authors provide basic information about fishes in general—their structure, classification and origin, their food, and their parasites. The revised, updated section on fishing techniques includes information about spin casting. There are important chapters on lake dynamics, fish population dynamics, management of Minnesota and northern waters for fish production, and improvement of lakes and streams. The detailed information about species is arranged according to families. For further reading or reference there is a bibliography.

The northern pike—sometimes affectionately known as the “aquatic wolf”—is one of the most sought after and mythologized fishes in Minnesota, but until now there have been few books devoted to the history and ecological management of the species. Based on pioneering research carried out in Minnesota by leading pike specialist Rodney B. Pierce, Northern Pike Ecology, Conservation, and Management History is the most complete collection of information to date on the species, for everyone from scientists and conservation biologists to general readers and recreational anglers.

A tremendously important game fish and resource both in Minnesota and throughout the northern hemisphere, northern pike populations directly reflect local geology and human influence, playing a key role in the health of freshwater ecosystems. As urbanization spreads and the human population continues to grow, pike populations face increasing pressure, requiring new ways of looking at and managing the species. In Minnesota, groundbreaking work has been conducted on northern pike: analyses of stocking success and investigations into the relationships within fish communities, the management of rearing marshes, environmental effects on natural production, the genetics of northern pike, and strategies for scientifically monitoring pike. The state has been a leader in developing fishing regulations to help restore large pike, among many other measures designed to ensure the future quantity and health of a key species in Minnesota’s waterways.

Weaving significant historical scientific literature and technical details together with his own research, Pierce’s benchmark study documents and synthesizes the long history of northern pike management and describes the latest efforts being taken to better understand and manage this critical and renowned species.