Charles Hood is a poet and naturalist who lives in the Mojave Desert. His previous books with Heyday include Wild Sonoma: Exploring Nature in Wine Country and A Salad Only the Devil Would Eat: The Joys of Ugly Nature. Always ready for the next excursion, he owns three bat detectors, nine headlamps and flashlights, and a hardcopy world atlas.

José Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca divides his time between Nicaragua and Arizona, where he recently completed a PhD in bat ecology at Northern Arizona University. He owns almost as many headlamps and cameras as Charles does and has contributed images to wildlife publications worldwide. He is also very adroit at catching bats and tarantulas, among other creatures. Martínez-Fonseca is the coauthor, along with Charles Hood and Erin Westeen, of Sea Turtles to Sidewinders: A Guide to the Most Fascinating Reptiles and Amphibians of the West.

Introduction

1. Astronomy and the Night Sky

2. Do Plants Sleep? Botany by Moonlight

3. Cool, Not Creepy: Arachnids, Insects, and One Fairy Shrimp

4. Lessons in Herpetology

5. Owls, Nighthawks, and Nightjars

6. Migration: the Invisible River

7. The Truth about Bats

8. Pocket Mice to Pumas: Nocturnal Mammals

9. Towns and Cities After Dark

About the Authors