Enature.com

Hi All,

Just found out about one of the most popular nature sites on the web: Enature.com. I never heard about it before...but wow.  What a vast treasure trove of information about wild animals and plants of the United States. 

The core content of the wildlife is information about nearly 6,000 individual species.  Information on the site comes from the same data set used to created the printed edition of the Audubon Field Guides.  Awesome - the information is basically free!!!

So - what does the site offer viewers?  There are Wildlife Guides, links to Local Nature, Ask an Expert, Fun & Games, an Advanced Search and a blog.  Users can also conduct a species search and look for Field Guides for more than 5,500 species. 

Field Guides run the gamut of animals:  from Birds, Butterflies, Fishes, Insects & Spiders, Mammals, Reptiles & Amphibians, Seashore Creatures, Trees and Wildflowers.  Clicking on this link brings you to the Field Guides search page where you can search the Field Guides by the category listed above - and you can search within the Field Guides by keyword.

Each Field Guide has the name of the animal, its family, a description, dimensions, habitat, observation tips, range, voice, similar species and a brief discussion of the animal.

Awesome, awesome, awesome - comprehensive, authoritative and easy to use information is available.  What a great site for a nature lover who is conversant with the internet and computers. 

Also on this page is a box that users can use to find a particular option:
1. Learn what wildlife lives in my area.
2. Identify an animal or plant I just saw.
3. Ask a specimen question.
4. Get information about a National Park or Refuge.
5.  Know what endangered species live near me.

Finally, click on this link for the Free iPhone Apps from eNature.com!

Enjoy the site and the information!

Regards,
Stu

More Birding

Hi All,

I did a birding post on November 2nd and since then it has been one of the best viewed blog entries! Go figure - who knew that birding was such a hot topic among my blog readers?

Well, I am very glad to find a topic that I was able to tap into - and which my readers find interesting! Onward and upward!

Here is another entry on birding. Specifically this entry is about the various organizations and groups on Long Island dedicated to birding. There are quite a few of them, so birding enthusiasts have plenty of choices!

Click here for a site called LIBirds.com. On the homepage of the site you'll find links to Sightings, Seasonal Spots, Backyard, Photo Page (don't miss this - great pictures of birds!), Bird ID, Featured Bird and Links. For those who are interested in the Audubon society, the Links page has a list - and links - to local Audubon chapters! Very helpful!

Click on this link for a page on About.com called 'Bird Watching on Long Island'. There are 9 different links on the page that discuss bird watching. Locations as varied as Garvies Point Preserve, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center, Garden City Bird Sanctuary and the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge are mentioned.

Blog readers who are out in the field and who are looking at birds and want to identify them should click on this link called Whatbird.com. On the site you can identify birds by location, shape, size, primary color, secondary color, habitat, bill shape, bill length, wing shape, conservation status, song patter (amazing) and more....great stuff. Don't miss Whatbird.com!

Finally, click on this link from Audubon.com - the link is to a subsite on the Audubon entitled 'Birds'. You can find more information on birds, including bird profiles, a link to state of the birds, important bird areas and a link to the Great Backyard Bird Count. Neat stuff...

FYI, if you do a Google search for the term 'birding' you'll find over 16 million hits...ack. If you do a Google search for the term 'birding long island', you'll find just under 1.3 million hits...ack again.

Enjoy the links and the birds - its a great time of year to view them!
Stu

Gotta Love Them - Gotta Have Them!

Hi All, Welcome to another edition of the Farmingdale PL blog called Reference and You...today we are going to discuss lots and lots of adorable pet pictures. Click here for a great link to LOLCats - lots of adorable, funny photos of cats and kittens in various funny, humorous and entertaining poses. Are you more of a dog person? Well, we've got you covered also - click here for a similar site to LOLCats, but this deals with dogs, puppies and pooches! Are you one of the many folks who love hamsters? Hammies are a great way for young children to learn about the responsibility of owning a pet. Click here for some great hammy pictures. Are you a bird lover? Click here for some truly astonishing photos of birds in all their glory. Note that the photos came from National Geographic - a very well known nature oriented organization. Also note that the page is organized by topic: birds of prey, waterfowl photos, bird wallpapers, waterbird photos, flightless bird photos, shorebird photos and much more. Finally, just to make this an even more educational post, you might want to visit the National Wildlife Federation or the National Audubon Society or the Sierra Club in order to support nature, animals and our environment. Enjoy the photos! stu Five reason to Friend the library on Facebook? 1. books on festivals 2. books on food 3. books on football 4. books on Fellowships 5. books on Fantasy (like science fiction)...(notice that all the reasons began with the letter 'F'? Ten reasons to follow us on Twitter? (did you notice that all the examples begin with the letter 'T'? 1. books on tennis 2. tv's in the library - news is educational! 3. tea - we have coffee and tea at our concession stand now (located in the rotunda) 4. our Teacher's Center - full of lesson plans for teachers 5. telecommunications - what? I'm making this up as I go along and I thought that I could substitute 'internet' for 'telecommunications'. Yes, we have a wifi connection all throughout the first floor in the librrary 6. tax forms - we've got reproducible tax forms in spades at the reference desk 7. Tai Chi classes - we've got them for patrons - see our newsletter for registration dates 8. Teen Scene Room - we now have a dedicated teen room located on the first floor of the library. We have board games, computers and an ultra-comfortable table for teens to use to study or 'hang out' in. 9. We have a large collection of books on iTunes for patrons to borrow. 10. Tutor.com - a fantastic online solution for students who need to get homework help in subjects as varied as math, science, social studies, english and more.