Tagged Animals and Nature

Wednesdays of Wonder: Snake Party with Scott Prior!

Attend our first of four Wednesdays of Wonder programs: Join snake expert Scott Prior to meet his favorite scaly friends as they visit the library. He'll share interesting facts about snake behaviors and habitats, and answer your…

Performance & Parade with Philly Goat Project!

Please join us and our friends from Philly Goat Project on Monday, June 16th for a live, interactive performance - starring goats! - outside in Shakespeare Park at 10:30am, followed by a goat parade and storywalk! Participants…

Spring Migration Bird Walk with Expert Birder, Holger Pflicke!

Please join the Free Library of Philadelphia and Holger Pflicke for a Spring Migration Bird Walk!  We plan to stay out for 1-2 hours, depending on the location, and walk mostly on flat and well-traveled paths. All events are open…

Spring Migration Bird Walk with Expert Birder, Holger Pflicke!

Please join the Free Library of Philadelphia's Fishtown Community Library and Holger Pflicke for a Spring Migration Bird Walk!  This walk will begin at Penn Treaty Park, 1301 N. Beach Street - meet at the entrance near the…

Philly Goat Project!

Please join us and our friends from Philly Goat Project on Tuesday, May 20 2025 at 2 to 4pm for a live performace! Come out and meet these cuties. We will be in the back of the library by the playground. Rain date : Tuesday,…

Insects vs. Arachnids

Learn about and meet real live bugs with a local entomologist! Meet a tarantula and a hornworm caterpillar! Learn the difference between insects and other arthropods, help Ms. Chrissy build an insect on the felt board, and draw your own…

Meet the Animal Insects! With Insectopia

Stop by the library to meet six different animals. These invertebrates (no skeleton!) will show off their most interesting talents and if you want to, you can hold them in your hands. Come for the special opportunity to meet one of our…

Spring Migration Bird Walk with Expert Birder, Holger Pflicke!

Please join Greater Olney Library and Holger Pflicke for a Spring Migration Bird Walk!  We plan to stay out for 1-2 hours, depending on the location, and walk mostly on flat and well-traveled paths. All events are open to…

Spring Migration Bird Walk with Expert Birder, Holger Pflicke!

Please join the Free Library of Philadelphia and Holger Pflicke for a Spring Migration Bird Walk!  We plan to stay out for 1-2 hours, depending on the location, and walk mostly on flat and well-traveled paths. All events are open…

Kids Spring Fling

Join us for a fun-filled afternoon featuring snakes, face painting, and other exciting activities!  

Fiesta de primavera en la biblioteca de Olney

¡Únase a nosotros para una tarde llena de diversión con serpientes, pintura facial y otras actividades emocionantes!  

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…

Philly Goat Project at the Pennypack Pier!

Please join us and our friends from Philly Goat Project on Tuesday, May 6th for a live, interactive performance - starring goats! - outside on the Pier at Pennypack on the Delaware, followed by a goat parade and…

Public Eye for Artists Event

Join us for stories, movement and live music with Public Eye: Artists for Animals. You will also have the opportunity to meet some pigeons thanks to The Philly Pigeon Rescue! Public Eye for Animals is a Philadelphia-based…

Spring Migration Bird Walk with Expert Birder, Holger Pflicke!

Please join the Free Library of Philadelphia and Holger Pflicke for a Spring Migration Bird Walk!  We plan to stay out for 1-2 hours, depending on the location, and walk mostly on flat and well-traveled paths. All events are open…

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…

Animal Champions

CAS Presents: Animal Champions Tuesday, April 29th at 4:30pm Students will meet live animals and learn about the adaptations that help them to survive in their habitat.  This program is being presented by the Center for…

Read To a Therapy Dog

Readers of all ages can read to Huey, our certified therapy dog!  Both independent readers and those still learning can practice reading skills to gain confidence in reading and interacting with animals.  Yes, you can pet them…

Ants on a Log Earth Month Concert

Celebrate E a r t h M o n t h with a special concert from Ants on a Log on Monday April 28 at 5:30pm! The Ants' Earth Month show features themes of climate justice and environmental education. This concert is the…

Philadelphia City Nature Challenge: Garden Sit and Sketch

Be a part of the Philadelphia City Nature Challenge! Between April 25 and April 28th, Philadelphia and it's adjacent counties will be competing against other cities in the world to see who can find the most species in their regions.…

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…