Come celebrate the life and legacy of beloved Hollywood mountain lion P-22 at the 9th annual P-22 Day Festival on Saturday October 19, 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the big cat’s former stomping/hunting grounds: Griffith Park! 😻 You’ll enjoy music, food, family-friendly nature-focused activities, and lots of local and regional environmental groups that can teach you about urban wildlife. The movers and shakers behind the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be there as well. And I’ll have a booth—please stop by to chat! #urbanwildlife #wallisannenbergwildlifecrossing #P22 #LAnature #savecougars #nationalwildlifefederation

As you can see, @village_books, in Bellingham’s historic Fairhaven district, is pure charm. Thanks to all who attended the WILDLIFE CROSSINGS OF HOPE event, and to Anne and Sophie who coordinated everything so beautifully. I did, sadly, scare off one family with my perhaps too gruesome talk of roadkill early in the presentation. 😿 It was great to meet local children’s book author Carol Reed-Jones (I highly recommend SALMON STREAM and THE TREE IN THE ANCIENT FOREST, both released by Dawn Publications). Having my Washington family there was beyond wonderful: my Aunt Mary and Uncle Don, and my other favorite couple, cousin @standlee62 and his husband @davidrekow. Brent was the wildlife bridge poster wrangler (turtles! pollywogs! a marten!) and photographer extraordinaire. 📸 standlee62 #villagebooks #bellinghamwashington #naturebooks #wildlifecrossings #stembooksforkids #bookstagram #bookstorecats #enjoyfairhaven

Bellingham is green in every way. 💚💚🌿🌿🐿️🦌🦨🐾🐻 #wildlifecorridors #bellinghamwashington

A huge thanks to all who showed up at the fabulous @chaucersbooks on a cozy cloudy day this last weekend to talk about fragmented landscapes and how road ecologists, environmental advocates, and wildlife biologists are helping the wild creatures we love find safe passage, and each other. Special thanks to Chaucer’s own Michael Takeuchi; my dear friend Nick Welsh, the Angry Poodle of the renowned @sbindependent; and my sons @nabonca and @alexeybonca, who may at this point have heard enough about roadkill and crossing structures! Thanks, too, to my pals @_danamarin_ and @raejannel, who took photos and helped coordinate the Building Bridges poster. Small critters like gopher snakes, bunnies, turtles, and California newts populated the poster this time round—wildlife crossings aren’t, after all, just for showy megafauna. 🐍 🐢 🐰 Special co-presenter @rebeccagaal of @sbwildlifecarenetwork offered wisdom, great energy, and tales of her hands-on experience rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing wild creatures who have suffered the shocks (e.g., oil slicks, rodenticide, roadways) of a human-dominated world. Thank you, Becky! Of course, my P-22 plushie made an appearance. 💚 🐱 📚 📸@alexeybonca 📸 @raejannel #santabarbara #roadecology #middlegradestembooks #holidayhousebks #independentbookstores #wildliferescue #P-22 #wildlifecrossings

A harbor town on a western bay, as the song says, charming Bellingham, Washington may not be home to the fine girl Brandy, but it has much to offer nonetheless, including the bucolic campus of Western Washington University, the nearby Cascade Mountains, great eateries, and a fantastic bookstore, Village Books and Paper Dreams, where I’ll be talking about ecological connectivity and signing copies of WILDLIFE CROSSINGS OF HOPE on Sunday, September 22, 3:00 p.m. 📚 Please go to the @village_books website to register. #holidayhousebks #wildlifecrossings #kidsbookstagram #bellinghamwashington #stembooks

Benjamin’s Book Picks: Today’s installment brings you Sustainable Structures: 15 Eco-Conscious Buildings Around the World, written and illustrated by the creative powerhouse @katemcmillanart. 🛖 🏠 🏤 Part of Holiday House’s wonderful Books for a Better Earth series, Kate’s book—out today!— takes you to Japan, Norway, Chile, and many other locales, where you’ll learn about, for example, biomimicry, passive design, and collective housing. Benjamin is not so sure about something called “amphibious architecture,” which allows a building to float with rising waters. 🐸 🙀 Otherwise, a big paws-up for this terrific book! 😻 #holidayhousebks #stembooks #kidsbookstagram #greenarchitecture

So, I guess dreams do come true. 😸 I’ve been haunting the aisles of Santa Barbara’s legendary @chaucersbooks since I was an undergrad at UCSB lo these many years ago. 📚 I never could have imagined I’d be sharing my love of wildlife and children’s literature at my own book event at Chaucer’s. Please join me to talk wildlife connectivity, local and global—and then down a dry martini 🍸 at the equally legendary @harrys_plaza_cafe (“Home of the very generous drinks”), a couple of doors down. Who knows, maybe you’ll see a major celeb like William Shatner there—I did! #chaucersbooks #harrysplazacafe #wildlifecrossings #stembooks #naturelit #holidayhousebks #bookstagram #gaviotapass #santabarbara

Thunderbolt fording the stream in high style. 💚🌿🐻 #bernesemountaindog #berner #santiagooaks

When it comes to the story of wildlife bridges, France wrote the opening chapter, creating the first crossings in the 1950s. Now over a hundred vegetated bridges, called écopunts in French, invite foxes, wild boar, and deer (roe and red) with native trees and shrubs and even small ponds; while countless tunnels shelter the otters, hedgehogs, salamanders and various reptiles who prefer to travel under rather than atop busy roadways. In France, and throughout the world, these crossings are drastically reducing roadkill, reminding us that our infrastructure projects need to keep our fellow creatures in mind and off the pavement. 🐿️ 🦝 🦦 🦌 🦔 🦎 Thank you @whitneystandlee for the great pic 📸! 💚 #wildlifecrossings #greenbridges #frenchwildlife #roadecology

🐍 💚🐍💚 #savethesnakesorg