Online Book

Naturalists and Nature Kids in North Texas

Would you like to get to know the woods and prairies in North Texas? Or add more depth to your walks in the wild? I’m writing something that might help. With the downloadable documents below, you can take a look at what naturalists do and pick up some ideas and skills for becoming one. You could also learn some ways to get more from the time you spend in nature.

It is a work in progress, with several sections available and more to come.

Could this project might become a book? Maybe – the documents are labeled as “chapters” (and some are “journal entries”). At present they are available free of charge. I hope that they will be useful to you, and I would appreciate any comments you have about them (you can use the contact form on this website).

Naturalists & Nature Kids – Contents So Far

  1. An Invitation to the Cross Timbers
  2. Journal Entry: The Kissing Trees
  3. What Can You Do in Nature?
  4. Journal Entry: A Gray Winter Day at the Grasslands; The Snow Birds
  5. Observing, Journaling, and Sharing

Future items:

  • Journal Entry: Elijah and Lilly
  • Nurturing a Nature Kid
  • Journal Entry
  • Our Relationships with Nature
  • Journal Entry
  • Natural History and Nature Study

1: An Invitation to the Cross Timbers

I’m inviting you into a relationship with nature in which you can be quiet, observant, and curious, going as deep into a place as you can, to feel its heartbeat, hear its breathing, and see as much as possible. This allows you to be fully present in your experience of the woods and prairies, and sets the stage for the kind of hands-on scientific understanding that’s called natural history. Either one, or – ideally – both. This chapter discusses why you might want to do these things and also describes the Cross Timbers, which are the woods and prairies that extend down from Oklahoma and through north-central Texas. (Click the image to the right)

2: The Kissing Trees

A winter walk along the river and into the woodlands at Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge on a warm January day. There is a belted kingfisher and turtles in the river. Entering the woods, we come to the pair of trees with trunks curved around each other in a permanent embrace. At the end, at dusk, there is a surprise encounter with a great blue heron. (Click the image to the right)

3: What Can You Do in Nature?

There are many ways to visit a place in nature, and plenty of different things to do. I suggest a couple of guidelines: it should bring some degree of discovery, wonder, and a sense of kinship with other living things; also, it should do no harm to the place, the living things there, or to other visitors. I describe structured activities a little like games as well as forest bathing, practicing mindfulness, and nature study. (Click the image to the right)

4: A Gray Winter Day at the Grasslands; The Snow Birds

I describe a walk at LBJ National Grasslands on a gray winter day at the boundary between one year at the next, the quiet and peace of the woodlands punctuated by a conversation among blue jays and the chatter of chickadees. And then there was the winter storm of 2021 which overwhelmed Texans and provided an opportunity to consider the fate of the birds in the storm and what it said about humans and birds, our similarities and differences. (Click the image to the right)

5: Observing, Journaling, and Sharing

I provide some suggestions for slowing down and observing all the things to see, hear, touch, and smell during an outing. Then there is a discussion of nature journaling, which focuses us on our experience, helps us remember the outing, and can foster some self-reflection about our own perceptions and emotions during our visit to that place. I provide ideas and prompts for writing. Additionally, we can share our observations of various species online, contributing to community science. The discussion centers on the app “iNaturalist” but also touches on eBird and Merlin.

I’ve been in the Cross Timbers of North Texas since the 1960s, wading creeks and looking for snakes in the woods and savannahs around Fort Worth, exploring and becoming at home in our ecoregion. An interest in natural history broadened to an affinity for a mindful or contemplative way of experiencing these places. I remain a naturalist, conservationist, and an advocate for bringing new generations of kids into the woods and prairies.