“In his ANIMAL STORIES, Bill Sherwonit reminds us that community is built and sustained not only by humans caring for one another, but by humans noticing, coming to know, and caring about their animal neighbors. From the black-capped chickadees at his feeder, to the wood frogs in an urban pond, to the wolverines he encounters on the alpine tundra, Sherwonit celebrates Alaskan wildlife in all its forms with his eyes, ears, heart, and curiosity wide open. In prose that’s clear as a rain-washed sky, he observes and writes as a true citizen-naturalist and nature writer.” —Eva Saulitis, author of Into Great Silence: A Memoir of Discovery and Loss Among Vanishing Orcas

For more than three decades, Anchorage-based writer Bill Sherwonit has written extensively about wilderness, the natural history of animals and plants, wildlife management, connection to place, conservation issues, and notions of wildness. He’s contributed stories and photos to a wide variety of national publications and is the author of over a dozen books about Alaska. He also teaches nature and travel writing in his adopted hometown of Anchorage. www.billsherwonit.alaskawriters.com.

Introduction/Author’s Note I. Meeting the Neighbors The Songs of Robins Stretch Across Time and Space The Hidden Lives of Hares and Shrews Living with Moose Through the Seasons and Across the Years Watching Belugas Point Woronzof’s Spectacle of Swallows Squirrelly Behavior Leaving the Nest Ravens in Winter Redpoll Serenade: Celebrating the End of Winter Of Bears and Bird Seed Listening to Owl II. Along City and Highway Fringes A Gathering of Swans Called to a Primeval Presence: Anchorage’s Sandhill Cranes Nesting Goshawks Arctic Terns, the World’s Greatest Long-Distance Flyers Campbell Creek’s Silvers On the Trail, Finding Lynx Valley of the Eagles III. Backcountry Encounters In the Company of Bears Crossing Paths with Porcupine Looking into Wild Eyes Seeking Caribou, Touching the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain Fourteen Ways of Viewing Alaska’s Wild, White Sheep Meeting a Legend: Wolverine Paddling with Porpoises Wilderness Music: Sharing a Valley with Howling Wolves IV. Oddities, Surprises, and Dilemmas A Gift of Halibut Leonard Peyton’s Redpoll Project Otter Catastrophe “Nice” Weather Gets Seals Hot Mystery of Alaska’s Deformed-Bill Chickadees An Overlooked Marvel: In Search of Anchorage’s Wood Frogs Of Waxwings and Goshawks and Standing Up to Power A Tale of Two Wolverines and One Beloved Dog