A Sand County Feathursday
One of the most noteworthy books to come out of Wisconsin is A Sand County Almanac by the equally noteworthy Wisconsin naturalist and conservationist Aldo Leopold (1887-1948). Considered a landmark in the American conservation movement, A Sand County Almanac is a collection of essays mainly concerning the land around Leopold’s home in Sauk County, Wisconsin, that advocates the author’s idea of a "land ethic," or a responsible relationship between people and the land they inhabit.
Our copy is a first edition published in New York by Oxford University Press in 1949 with illustrations by the American wildlife artist and fellow conservationist Charles W. Schwartz (1914-1991). The book was published a year after Leopold’s death so he never got to witness its significant impact on the conservation and environmentalist movements.
Schwartz made a special emphasis on depicting the avian inhabitants of Sauk County, and we show a few of those images here that include Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor), and a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). A couple of other species shown here are from Leopold’s visits to Mexico and the American southwest, Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii) and Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana).
The image of the chickadee being annoyed by its newly banded leg has a particularly charming description:
65290 was one of 7 chickadees constituting the ‘class of 1937.’ When he first entered our trap, he showed no visible evidence of genius. Like his classmates, his valor for suet was greater than his discretion. Like his classmates, he bit my finger while being taken out of the trap. When banded and released he fluttered up to a limb, pecked his new aluminum anklet in mild annoyance, and hurried away to catch up with the gang. It is doubtful whether he drew any philosophical deductions from his experience, . . . for he was caught again three times that same winter. . . . By the fifth winter 65290 was the sole survivor of his generation. Signs of genius were still lacking, but of his extraordinary capacity for living, there was now historical proof.
Our copy of A Sand County Almanac is from the collection of another heralded Milwaukee-area environmentalist and activist, Lorrie Otto.
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