Tagged Animals and Nature

Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends

From June 2nd to August 30th, 2025, visit the Second Floor Gallery West at the Parkway Central Library to view the Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends  exhibition.  Birds have long captivated humankind with their graceful…

Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends

From June 2nd to August 30th, 2025, visit the Second Floor Gallery West at the Parkway Central Library to view the Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends  exhibition.  Birds have long captivated humankind with their graceful…

Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends

From June 2nd to August 30th, 2025, visit the Second Floor Gallery West at the Parkway Central Library to view the Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends  exhibition.  Birds have long captivated humankind with their graceful…

Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends

From June 2nd to August 30th, 2025, visit the Second Floor Gallery West at the Parkway Central Library to view the Go Birds: Appreciating Our Avian Friends  exhibition.  Birds have long captivated humankind with their graceful…

Read to a Therapy Dog!

Independent readers and children who are learning to read are invited to practice their reading skills with a certified therapy dog from Comfort Caring Canines. Yes, you can pet them, too! Dogs will be accompanied by their handler…

Read to a Therapy Dog!

Young readers are invited to share stories with Cene, a local certified therapy dog from Comfort Caring Canines. Children can take turns of up to ten minutes reading aloud in a judgment free space. Children ages 7 and under must be…

Birding Bingo with the Pennsylvania Game Commission!

Join us for a Birding Bingo scavenger hunt for children and their adults. There will also be birding coloring pages and give-aways and opportunities to learn more about the Pennsylvania Game Commision. The Pennsylvania…

Who's That Bird? Birding Basics for Kids

Join us for a feather-filled adventure as we learn how to tell birds apart by their colors, beaks and feet! After a short storytime, we'll explore what makes each bird special, discover how they eat and live, and even try some…

Read to a Therapy Dog!

Independent readers and children who are learning to read are invited to practice their reading skills with a certified therapy dog from Comfort Caring Canines. Yes, you can pet them, too! Dogs will be accompanied by their handler…

Exploring Nature at Lovett Memorial Library

Come explore nature right here at Lovett Library.  This program will help all ages experience the natural world right in our own neighborhood.  What can we find that is colorful, fuzzy, sticky, smooth or fragrant? Can we tune…

Read to a Therapy Dog!

Young readers are invited to share stories with Cene, a local certified therapy dog from Comfort Caring Canines. Children can take turns of up to ten minutes reading aloud in a judgment free space. Children ages 7 and under must be…

Teen Hangout

Calling all 7th - 12th graders! Hangout with us this summer, for low-key Summer of Wonder meet-ups just for you. We'll have snacks, games, art supplies, books, and more. Meets June 25; July 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30; August 8. Come…

Why Do Birds Collide With Buildings? A talk by Audubon's Keith Russell

Why do birds collide with buildings? Most people love birds and the joy that they bring to our lives. But birds are in decline throughout the world. Here in the North America our wild bird populations are estimated to have declined by…

Bird Walk

Thursdays are for the birds! Join South Philly Library for a walk to Columbus Square Park & catch a glimpse of some neighborhood birds. We will have some binoculars and bird guides available for use during the program to help…

Owl Pellet Dissection with The Center for Aquatic Sciences

Owl Pellet Dissection: Owls are amazing birds of prey, but they have some weird habits around the dinner table. Follow along with the instructor as we learn a little more about these birds and figure out what owl pellets are, why…

Birding Storytime

The Pennsylvania Game Commission, our state's wildlife agency, will be leading a special storytime program all about birds! Children will learn about bird behavior through stories, crafts and an outside bird walk around the…

Read to a Therapy Dog!

Independent readers and children who are learning to read are invited to practice their reading skills with a certified therapy dog from Comfort Caring Canines. Yes, you can pet them, too! Dogs will be accompanied by their handler…

Teen Hangout

Calling all 7th - 12th graders! Hangout with us this summer, for low-key Summer of Wonder meet-ups just for you. We'll have snacks, games, art supplies, books, and more. Meets June 25; July 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30; August 8. Come…

Bird Walk

Thursdays are for the birds! Join South Philly Library for a walk to Columbus Square Park & catch a glimpse of some neighborhood birds. We will have some binoculars and bird guides available for use during the program to help…

Snakes Alive!

Join us as we host Scott Prior, who bringing some scaly friends in a thrilling interactive and informative presentation will educate the public about live snakes from around the world. We'll learn about different types of snakes,…

Gale in Context | Elementary (formerly Kids InfoBits) *

Elementary students in kindergarten through grade five will find age-appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics such as animals, arts, geography, health, literature, people, social studies, technology, etc. Kids…

Amy Tan | The Backyard Bird Chronicles

In conversation with Beth Kephart A “master of illusion, and one of the best storytellers around” (NPR),  Amy Tan  is the author of the beloved novels  The Joy Luck Club , a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book…

Lydia Millet | We Loved it All: A Memory of Life

Praised for her “darkly funny and painfully sharp” ( Los Angeles Times ) fiction, Lydia Millet is the author of the novel  A Children’s Bible , shortlisted for the National Book Award and a  New York Times  Top 10 book of 2020; the…

Christian Cooper | Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6abc Action News morning edition Central Park birder Christian Cooper is the host and consulting producer on the National Geographic channel’s Extraordinary Birder and is on the board of…

Geraldine Brooks | Horse

Geraldine Brooks won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for her novel  March , an “honorable, elegant, and true” ( The Wall Street Journal ) retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s  Little Women  from the point of view of the titular family’s absent…

Frans de Waal | Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist

“A pioneer in primate studies” ( The Wall Street Journal ), Dr. Frans de Waal is the author of  The Bonobo and the Atheist , an exploration of the biological roots of human morality found in primate social interaction. His other 16…

Elizabeth Kolbert | Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future

Barbara Gohn Day Memorial Lecture In conversation with Tracey Matisak, award-winning broadcaster and journalist “An astute observer, excellent explainer, and superb synthesizer” ( Seattle Times ), Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of the…

Jonathan Safran Foer | We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast

Renowned for placing “his reader’s hand on the heart of human experience” ( Philadelphia Inquirer ), Jonathan Safran Foer is the bestselling author of the frenetically irreverent, emotionally urgent novels  Everything Is Illuminated ,…

Jacob Shell | Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants

In conversation with Nikil Saval, an editor of n+1 and author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace A professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University, Jacob Shell is the author of Transportation and Revolt: Pigeons,…

Dave Barry | Lessons from Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog

A 30-year writer at the Miami Herald whose column was syndicated in more than 500 newspapers, humorist Dave Barry won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988. His more than 30 New York Times bestselling books include I’ll Mature When…

Barry Lopez | Horizon

Barry Lopez won the National Book Award for Arctic Dreams , a “rich, abundant, vigorously composed” ( Boston Globe ) meditation on his travels in the barren but beautiful far North. His other work includes Of Wolves and Men , Crow and…

Adam Rutherford | Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature A New Evolutionary History

“A heady amalgam of science, history, a little bit of anthropology and plenty of nuanced, captivating storytelling” ( The New York Times Book Review ), Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived delves into the…

Frans de Waal | Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves

Esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal is the author of The Bonobo and the Atheist , a “tour de force” ( Nature ) exploration of the biological roots of human morality found in primate social emotions, including empathy, reciprocity, and…

Katrina van Grouw | Unnatural Selection

The former curator of the ornithological collections at London’s Natural History Museum, Katrina van Grouw is the author of The Unfeathered Bird . A sumptuous labor of love, this hybrid of art, science, and history features 385 detailed…

Loudon Wainwright III | Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes and Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things with Eileen Myles | Afterglow (a dog memoir)

Watch the video here . With a career spanning four decades, 26 studio albums, and untold scores of concerts, Loudon Wainwright III is one of the world’s most loved singer-songwriters. A prolific actor in a variety of television and…

Alexandra Horowitz | Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell

In conversation with Jason Freeman Cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz is the author of Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know . Owing to its insight and plain-spoken lightness, the book pawed its way to no. 1 on the New…

Frans de Waal | Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal is the author of The Bonobo and the Atheist , a “tour de force” ( Nature ) exploration of the biological roots of human morality found in primate social emotions, including empathy, reciprocity, and…

Helen Macdonald | H is for Hawk and Shaler’s Fish

Naturalist Helen Macdonald won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction for the bestselling H Is for Hawk , a “beautiful and nearly feral” ( New York Times ) chronicle of the devastating but transformative year she spent training a…