Seattle Field Guide is out now!
NEW BOOK
“Dipping into these pages, our sense of the urban community expands to include sea stars, starlight, and the array of life in between.” -Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rooted and Crow Planet.
The 38 outings in this book get readers outside, to see the city’s tallest coast redwood, a garden with winter-blooming flowers, and a rare native plant meadow in a neighborhood park. Go birdwatching, canoeing, and tide pooling, all within city limits. We wrote this book to give city dwellers new ways to enjoy nature, while learning about the animals and plants with whom we share a home.
“They can sing with their tails, fly in every direction, and flash iridescent colors with their feather tips. It’s no wonder we are fascinated by hummingbirds.”
-on Hummingbirds, from Seattle Field Guide
“Flowers bloom in sets, like cresting waves, then form fruits and berries snagged by plucky park-goers.”
-on Summer, from Seattle Field Guide
“On a fall day, toothed cottonwood leaves eddy at the edges of paths, and glossy red rose hips dangle like candy from their stems.”
-from Seattle Field Guide
A seasonal guide to 38 urban outings rooted in discovering nature
Each activity indicates the terrain, level of effort, distance, transit and parking information, and amenities available at the destination
Useful at-a-glance planning chart helps readers pick a location and timeframe
Seattle Field Guide is a fun, accessible, and inspiring guide to 38 nature-filled outings across the greater Seattle area--perfect for all ages and experience levels. Whether you have a free afternoon or a full day to explore, nature writers Maria Dolan and Kathryn True offer seasonal adventures that reveal the wild wonders hidden in the city’s parks, shorelines, greenways, and neighborhoods.
From Broadview to Rainier Beach and Discovery Park to Seward Park, readers will find easy-to-follow, seasonally appropriate ideas for kayaking with herons, mushroom hunting in city parks, biking through salmon restoration sites, identifying lichens in historic cemeteries, and listening for frog songs in quiet urban wetlands. Each outing includes guidance on terrain, effort level, travel distance, transit options, and available amenities--plus tips on what to bring and when to go.
With colorful photos, maps, natural history sidebars, and cultural insights, this guide connects readers to the natural and human stories woven into Seattle’s landscape. Seattle Field Guide is your go-to companion for discovering nearby nature and making every season an opportunity to explore.
Other Books by Maria Dolan
Nature in the City: Seattle (Mountaineers Books, 2003. Out of print.)
"Maria Dolan and Kathryn True's Nature in the City: Seattle is a first-rate guidebook...a treasure map to Seattle's wild and not so wild places… " (David B. Williams, The Seattle Times, 2003).
Like Seattle Field Guide, this guidebook co-authored with naturalist and writer Kathryn True wove together nature outings with cultural and natural history. It was the inspiration for Seattle Field Guide.
Outside Magazine's Urban Adventure: Seattle (W.W. Norton, 2004)
This book was part of Outside Magazine's national Urban Adventure guidebook series. True to the series format, it guided readers interested in the most popular sports and other outdoor activities in Greater Seattle and Washington State, including sea kayaking, sailing, mountaineering, climbing, hiking and birdwatching.
Let’s Get in Touch
Get in touch by emailing me at mariafieldguide@gmail.com, or find me on Instagram @bookish_md