I have long been an ardent fan of Mary (Richards) Holland's "It's Only Natural" column that runs about once a month in the Harvard Press. It's always an even better-than-usual issue when it's one with Mary's pictures and descriptions of the fascinating eating or breeding idiosyncrasies of one of nature's creatures. (The recent exposé on the mating preparations of the moose comes to mind.) So it was with great delight that I learned Mary has recently published a book. Naturally Curious: A Photographic Field Guide and Month-by-Month Journey through the Fields, Woods, and Marshes of New England came out in October, and Mary will be at the Harvard Public Library on Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. to speak about her book, display some artifacts featured in it, and sign copies.

The book is ingeniously organized by months, as the subtitle suggests. Similar to a what-to-do-in-the-garden-this-month guide, Mary's book tells the reader what to watch for in nature at different times of the year. But it's even better than a gardening book because you don't have to do anything—just bring your curiosity and open eyes. As Mary says, "Every day of every season promises the potential of new discovery." Mary says that she shares these discoveries in her book in hopes that they will enrich our lives as they have hers. She wants to promote a "reverence for the earth and all its diversity" and "to foster a sense of stewardship of the natural environment."

Each month is organized in the same way, beginning with a word and brief description that define the essence of that month's activity and followed by a section of "Nature Notes," with special shaded charts on particular topics, and then "A Closer Look," with several essays and a box of "Fast Facts" about the subject of each essay. All of this is clearly laid out and written in Mary's lively, very readable prose. Everywhere, there are full-color photographs that catch the eye.

A fisher sets its sights on its prey. (Photos by Mary Holland)

Leopard frog.

My first approach to the book was to look up something to be on the alert for in the current month. Each month has a different colored tab on its pages, and I easily found nut-brown November, the month of "quiescence," when "the natural world is bracing for winter." "Nature Notes" section has a sampling of species that are breeding, migrating, preparing to hibernate, or remaining active at this time. Large headings make it easy to locate reptiles, amphibians, and birds, and close-up photographs show that the northern leopard frog is now hibernating, while the eastern newt is remaining active. A shaded section caught my eye and I learned a new word—"irruption," meaning an irregular influx of birds unusual to the area. I noticed that the pine siskin, a very cute little brown-and-white striped bird, is one of a handful of birds that irrupt in different parts of New England. I was reminded that now is the ideal time to look for bird nests—when the leaves are down (and it's not too cold to take the time to search treetops while out walking). The pages on mammals describe the courtship between porcupines prior to mating, a ritual that Mary calls "elaborate" and that I would have a different word for! A clearly delineated chart shows the winter adaptations that various animals make. The November activities of insects and arachnids, plants and fungi are set out in eye-catching headings and fascinating pictures. I now have an additional definition of "snag"—any dead or dying tree—and learned how many species use snags for everything from nests to dens to communication centers.

Still making my way through November in the field guide, I turned to "A Closer Look," with several essays on some of November's "highlights"—mudpuppies (being large, aquatic salamanders, "they don't bark"); the northern shrike ("the butcher bird"); bird nests; the American beaver; and fronds, lichen, and clubmosses. From the "Fast Facts" that accompany each essay I learned that the average songbird nest is constructed in less than a week; the beaver uses his tail for balance when cutting down trees; and the remains of ancient giant clubmosses in their petrified form constitute much of the coal we use today.

My second way of reading the book was to search the index and find some things I have always been curious about. I started with the fisher cat, wondering if its reputation for carrying off large numbers of family cats is truly deserved. I found that it will occasionally prey on a domestic animal, but it prefers a meal of porcupine. I read with fascination how "rotating its hind feet 180 degrees, the fisher descends head first ... Shortly after reaching the ground, it crosses paths with a porcupine and immediately the fisher begins circling the slow-moving rodent." The porcupine tries to keep its densely-quilled back to the fisher, but the fisher manages to bite the porcupine in the face a number of times. "The fisher moves in and flips the porcupine over, tearing into the only other part of its body that is not covered with quills—its belly. The next month's food supply has been procured."

Having recently seen what someone else identified as a red-tailed hawk, I looked it up and found that "although some red-tailed hawks remain in New England year-round, they will usually outnumber all other migrating raptors during the last three weeks of October." The detail that "they usually soar on updrafts along mountain ridges" may explain why the one I saw was around Fruitlands Museum.

In both of these approaches to reading the book, I was pleasantly distracted by the full-color photographs that occur on every page. It's impossible not to stop at the incredible blue color of the bottle gentian; the sweet, cuddly look of a red fox pup; the alien appearance of the green Carolina sphinx moth larva; or the bizarre sight of a cicada skin or of American toads mating.

What I'm really looking forward to is reading the book in the way I think Mary intended—to read slowly about each month while being actually in that month, being made aware of nature's activities and keeping an eye out for the things Mary describes. While the book starts with March, the month of "awakening"—I plan to start in January. I want to experience what Mary describes in her introduction when she says that although a knowledge of the events in nature's calendar is no longer crucial to man's survival, "awareness of them can provide a sense of connection with the earth that is unobtainable in any other way. The repetitive annual cycle of natural phenomena, such as the blooming of wildflowers, the singing of courting birds, and the emergence of hibernating amphibians and reptiles, is one of the few things left in this ever-changing world that one can look forward to with any degree of certainty." I look forward to being guided by Mary's book to experience that connection and certainty.