Picture of author.

Franklin Russell

Author of Watchers at the Pond

21+ Works 642 Members 6 Reviews

About the Author

Includes the names: Franklin Russell, Russell Franklin

Image credit: Sélection du Reader's Digest

Works by Franklin Russell

Watchers at the Pond (1961) 150 copies
The Wonder of Birds (1983) 133 copies
The Okefenokee Swamp (1605) 124 copies
Mountains of America (1975) 46 copies
The Atlantic Coast (1970) 32 copies
Hawk in the sky (1965) 31 copies
The secret islands (1965) 18 copies
Season on the Plain (1974) 16 copies
Searchers at the Gulf (1970) 14 copies
The hunting animal (1983) 13 copies
Argen the Gull (1964) 11 copies
The Honeybees (1967) 9 copies
Corvus the crow (1972) 8 copies
The Frightened Hare (1965) 7 copies

Associated Works

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Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1922
Gender
male
Nationality
New Zealand

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Reviews

It is an excellent coffee table-sized book filled with the most splendidly beautiful photographs as National Geographic is as well-known to capture as I've ever seen. It also has well-written compositions by nature writers from Audubon, the Smithsonian, Natural History, etc., about bird natural history and conservation efforts. Any bird lover would want this book.
 
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Huba.Library | 1 other review | Feb 8, 2024 |
There is not a single word of dialog in this book. Yet it is overwhelmingly full of sound- the birds scream, gurgle, choke, mutter and mew at each other. They communicate even more strongly with gestures- stretching tall to threaten, hunching down submissively, flattening their feathers in fear. Frequently launching outright attacks with stabbing beaks and flailing wings. Especially the protagonist, a herring gull named Argen who lives mostly around an estuary on the edge of an unnamed ocean. After his short period as a nestling dependent on his parents, and a few years spent exploring the area while learning how to find various food sources, he asserted himself against the other gulls with such an aggressive drive to gain food and live, that he was often described as being full of rage against the other birds. This story is not at all a pretty picture of nature. The gulls are scavengers and hunters- they squabble and steal from each other, smash shellfish, grab herring and smelt from the sea, pull apart carcasses found on shore (the aftermath of storms was a time of plenty for a seagull) and even pillage eggs and hatchlings from rookeries- including their own- in times of hunger. Any opportunity was taken.

I thought the narrative- all from the viewpoint of one gull as he grows, learns from experience and observation driven by instinct, and makes his way through the world- would have a lot about raising the young, that his strong demeanor would soften when he fed his own chicks- but actually that's just a brief thing- it describes the urge he feels to find a mate, return to the offshore island when they breed, and the ceaseless to-and-fro bringing food to the offspring, but not any tender feelings for them. Well, I should have expected that by the time I got so far. Not all his breeding years are successful- sometimes other birds kill his young, or the weather is too cold, and once there is a famine. But there are many good years, and with three different partners he has through his long life, Argen raises many young gulls successfully.

Overwhelmingly through this book is the power and sensation of the elements, the huge forces that sweep across the shores- changes in weather and currents that affect all the living things in a cascading effect. The swarms of other seabirds, fishes, shrimps and myriad tiny things in the surf and across the sand wax and wane. Argen witnesses a whale being killed by ocras one time, sees ducks dragged down by seals, evades hawks, eagles and falcons, and one year survives an injury to his wing that sends him creeping through the marsh to hide- a strange environment for him. I honestly though at some point I was going to start finding this account a bit tiresome- but at the end of each chapter I would turn another page and keep on reading- wrapped into the tides, the pushing winds, the blinding sun rising over the edge of the winking water. It's pretty incredible how well the author conveys the powerful forces of nature, with the life of one relatively small but definitely fierce creature thriving in it- until finally he reaches old age (for a bird) and time stretches differently, things that once filled him with passion simply don't anymore, and things wind to an end. It was very moving.

from the Dogear Diary
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jeane | Dec 8, 2020 |
The poetic style of this book reminded me of Loren Eiseley's marvelous science writing. Franklin Russell watches along with other animals and narrates what he sees over the course of the seasons. The other watchers include hawks and hares and muskrats, but the observations of the narrator bring the pond alive merging science with poetry.

He begins his story in the winter with some ladybirds encased in ice while chipmunks and others would hibernate nearby. Some of the birds have flown south for the winter only to return in the spring. Nature explodes in the fury of a blizzard that wrenches limbs from trees and exposes sleeping carpenter ants to the frigid cold.

The pond of the title was actually based on many ponds from a park in Hamilton, Ontario to many other ponds that he would explore in the Canadian countryside. What he finds he relates in beautiful prose that does not ignore the science on display. He can visualize single-celled organisms "by the billions in the pond . . . infinitely more varied than visible creatures . . . their soft unicellular bodies pulsing with slow and stately dignity." He does not let the scientist get in the way of the watcher or the writer. The ducks flying over the pond pass "very low and fast" and are "gone in the sound of a quack." Spring and summer come with more variety from mosquitoes to more waterfowl. He does not ignore the flora with descriptions of flowers and fruits like wild strawberries. Some of this reminded me of my own Wisconsin upbringing and time spent near similar ponds.

Thoreau wrote, near the end of Walden: "We con never have enough of Nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor . . . We are cheered when we observe the vulture feeding on the carrion . . . and deriving health and strength from the repast . . . I love to see that Nature is so rife with life that myriads can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one another . . . The impression made on a wise man is that of universal innocence."

The year at Russell's pond ends in a kind of innocence as well. The beauty of his prose mirrors the beauty of nature yielding a classic small book about the science and poetry that one can find at the edge of ponds. I would recommend this book as a great read for any season.
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½
 
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jwhenderson | 2 other reviews | Jul 5, 2017 |
Abundance of life. That is the overwhelming message I got out of this book which describes the lives of creatures that inhabit a pond (and its shoreline) through one full season. Overall it was a huge naming of so very very many small things that live and survive against all odds- insects galore, larvae and hydra and algae and worms and fish fry and tadpoles and so on. Turtles, squirrels, moths, wasps, mantids, beetles, elvers, hares, snakes and many many more. The briefest of mention on how they all go about their lives, whether it be mating, raising young, surviving the cold of winter, hunting or avoiding being eaten, etc. It was just such a broad scope and so little time spent on each animal that ultimately I found it a bit tiresome. But I was in awe at how well it shows the interlacing of all life, the intricate way all the little things fit together in this one arena which is the pond, and how vast the numbers are that support the very few at the top- the owl and hawk, the mink and weasel, the raccoon and fox.

more at the Dogear Diary
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jeane | 2 other reviews | Nov 14, 2013 |

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Works
21
Also by
2
Members
642
Popularity
#39,293
Rating
3.9
Reviews
6
ISBNs
35
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