Through the pages of Observing Nature by Canoe and Kayak, renowned naturalist and award-winning photographer and educator Michael Runtz takes readers on a journey like no other, exploring the living treasures of diverse ecosystems from the vantage point of your canoe or kayak.

Allow Runtz's expert guidance to steer you through Northeastern waterways, as he weaves his extensive knowledge with a deep passion for the residents of the natural world. With every paddle stroke, a new realm of life, color and wonder is revealed.

In this portable, pick-up-and-read field guide, more than 350 species of flora and fauna are beautifully captured in full-color photographs. In addition to the larger, more recognizable species encountered along waterways, Observing Nature by Canoe and Kayak also highlights lesser-known plants and animals, such as Sedges and Freshwater Sponges often overlooked by paddlers.

Whether you're an experienced naturalist, long-time paddler or curious newcomer, Observing Nature by Canoe and Kayak profiles many of the plants and animals that inhabit the waterways, marshes and shorelines of the Northeast.

Let this book enrich your outing by canoe or kayak!

Michael Runtz
has been an avid birdwatcher since the age of five and has worked as an interpretive naturalist in Algonquin Provincial and Point Pelee National parks, hosted an international television series Wild by Nature, authored 10 natural history books, and written more than 1,000 newspaper and magazine natural history articles.

Michael teaches Natural History and Ornithology courses at Carleton University where his highly visual teaching style continues to attract record enrolments (to date more than 41,000 students have taken Natural History). Michael has received numerous awards including the Council of Canadian University Biology Chairs Distinguished Public Science Education Award and the Carleton University Lifetime Achievement Award.

A popular keynote speaker and a regular guest on radio and television, Michael was the only Canadian featured in the TVO/NHK Japan 2001 Superteachers series that profiled such notables as Jane Goodall and Nelson Mandella.

Michael Runtz's profile page

Michael Runtz is highly a respected Canadian naturalist who has had a lifelong passion for writing and photographing the natural world. He has educated us all through his books and teachings. I think most of us have a copy of his best-selling book An Explorer's Guide to Algonquin Park on our shelves. Michael's latest book--Observing Nature by Canoe and Kayak--lists a name and information for all those species paddlers gawk at over the gunwale and wonder what it is and what it does... It's all in this compact, visually rich guide. The content is based on Michael's extensive knowledge of Northeastern Ontario's waterways. More than 350 species are overviewed, with flora and fauna all depicted in full-coloured photographs. Some species are common like moose and deer, but there are plenty of lesser-known plants and animals, such as sedges and freshwater sponges that paddlers have spotted on their travels and always wondered what the heck they are.

Explorer Magazine

The portable field guide is an enthralling, lavishly photographed chronicle of 350 species of flora and fauna you can see while paddling.

Everything Zoomer