The Hidden Life of Deer by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is a keen, patient observer of nature and the first chapters of The Hidden Life of Deer describe in beautiful detail the herd of deer she fed during a particularly harsh New Hampshire winter (and the flock of turkeys that started the feeding in the first place) along all kinds of wildlife details including a very didactic discussion of coyote scat.

And then, she plunges into her differences with the forest service, and many of her neighbors, on how to treat deer and other wildlife and she loses me entirely. How does she know what animals want? It’s fine to criticize the policies of the forest service, or the behaviors of her neighbors, but surely they, too, can disagree with her feeding wildlife, even if it’s on her land and her land is posted, as she repeatedly reminds us. Why rant when one can describe so beautifully and powerfully?