A thought:
It is important to me that my children can distinguish a vulture from a golden eagle by the cant of its wings. It reassures me to know that they can recognize the evening call of robins and the morning call of doves, that they know from its tracks whether a rabbit is coming or going, that they always know which way is west. I want them to go out into a rational world where order gives them pleasure and comfort, but also an improbable world, wild with sound and extravagant with color, where there is always a chance they will find something rare and very beautiful, something that is not in the book.
– Kathleen Dean Moore, “A Field Guide to Western Birds,” in Julie Dunlap and Stephen R. Kellert, eds., Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012), pp. 165-70, on p. 170
exploreportlandnature.wordpress.com 