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QUIRKY BAY AREA NATURE

So this is coming soon, written by beaver friend Jeff Miller and published by Heyday Books.

Mind you there isn’t an illustration of beavers on the front but the odds are good Martinez will be one of the stories featured Jeff asked for photos and sent me what he’d written about our story for corrections.

Unfortunately it’s being published after our festival so we can’t feature a copy. But keep an eye out.

By Jeff Miller , Obi Kaufmann

Learn about the wildlife of the Bay Area from a lifelong protector of endangered species, and enjoy the wild ride.

Jeff Miller’s quirky guide to the coolest animal neighbors in the Bay Area will have you gawking at elk, whooping with cranes, and crowning yourself a crossing guard for newts before you know it. Join Jeff on a local safari to meet more than sixty species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and insects, and discover the fascinating and sometimes bizarre mating, feeding, and athletic antics of our most charismatic animals. Portraits by Obi Kaufmann, the renowned conservationist artist who created The California Field Atlas, bring each animal to vivid life alongside fun facts, comical photos, and maps to help you scope out the best spots to find your furred, feathered, slimy, and slithery friends. Imbued with the author’s deep compassion for the well-being of our local fauna, Bay Area Wildlife reveals why each of these creatures matters, as well as the threats that loom over our region’s incredible biodiversity.

FALLING INTO PLACE

heidi08 Beaver Art March 19, 2024

Ooh fun, At the festival when kids finish their beaver puzzle they will get this:

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

heidi08 Beaver Art December 17, 2023

It’s getting to be that time again when packages start arriving at the door with generous treasures that folks have agreed to donate to the beaver festival silent auction. I’m sure we’re far luckier than we deserve to be, but this was a recent original sketch donated by an Oregon artist I’ve wrote about before, Fiona Barnacle (also known as Bearclaw). She and her husband attended the State of the Beaver again and were reinspired to share her talents with us.

Its ab it’s an original sink drawing on water color paper. I’m hoping we can persuade our friend at “Uve been framed” to take it under his wing.

BEAVER WONDERLAND

heidi08 Beaver Art December 4, 2023

More beavers without hypothermia:

BEAVERS ‘COORIE DOON’

heidi08 Beaver Art November 30, 2023

This is November’s issue of Cricket, a darling publication for preschoolers. Do you think it’s cute enough?

Beaver bicycle wizard Robert Rust spotted it for me and suggested I go look up the article. I did what I always do and beg friends to find it for me. Robin of Napa found the inside.

Which means preschoolers everywhere will already be smarter than the New York Times! Because this year it reported that beavers live INSIDE the dam.

And because the word SNUG and the pictures are so cuddly I have a new phrase to go with it. Bear with me. “Coorie Doon“ is a scottish saying which means to snuggle down in the covers and get cozy. It’s what mom’s would tell their babies in the cradle for centuries. And it’s ironically also what coal miners had to do in the low mines where they worked to navigate the shafts Songwriter Matt McGinn combineed the two in the 60’s with a song that has melted my heart all week. Please let it melt yours.