A Roving Naturalist: Revealing Nature’s Secrets in Nearby Places

Mike F. Foster

People will only want to save what they love, and in “A Roving Naturalist” I show how a love of nature can grow into wider learning and a commitment to activism on behalf of our natural world. The book emphasizes the conservation ethic that is vital in protecting the numerous life forms and unique features of our crowded and conflicted planet.
   
   I do this by following the exhortation to “think globally, but act locally.” I offer two qualities rarely found together in studies of nature: the informal language and enthusiasm of a private tour leader, showing where to see animals and plants (the “local” part), combined with the tour leader’s passionate desire to reveal some of the science behind what is observed (the “global” part), through Portraits and Contexts, which supplement each of the fifty-six chapters.
   
   A repeated theme is that humans are, and always have been, a part of nature. Another is that all species are connected. Rather than reiterating the dire consequences of ignoring those connections, I reveal the joy in learning about the creatures that share the planet with us.
   
   In view of the climate crisis, and the many insults endured by nature at the hands of mankind, the message here is timely, even urgently needed.
   
   Traditional publishers ignored the book as soon as they saw “fifty-six sites in nine counties surrounding Metro Denver,” dismissing it as “regional”—but ignoring the insights of naturalists since Thoreau, who have used local observations to illustrate broader principles of science, which I also do.
   
   In addition to creating a novel approach to natural history, I have fashioned an unusual way of distributing the book. Readers can download it at no cost from page one of my website: www.BirdingWithMike.com onto a computer, iPad, or iPhone.