WEB SITES FOR THE WOULD-BE
URBAN NATURALIST

What do moles eat? How many eggs do crows lay? How big can a Gila monster get? A great starting place for all animal questions is the Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html

This is the wonderful web site of Kevin McGowan, crow researcher at Cornell University. The FAQ page is priceless.
http://birds.cornell.edu/crows/

Not everyone hates starlings. Some people adore starlings. At site, you can hear Stormy and Sunshine talk, whistle Dixie, and mimic the telephone ringing.
http://www.starlingcentral.net/

...And a few people looooove insects. To hear fabulous recordings of insects underground, eating wood, or gossiping with their wings, check out Bug Bytes:
http://cmave.usda.ufl.edu/~rmankin/soundlibrary.html

Wonder what watershed you're sitting in? Rattle in your zip code, and get back a map of where your water comes from, and where it's going. That map also connects you to data on local water issues, action-groups, Superfund sites, and so on.
http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm

The Library page at Rocky Mountain Institute not only offers the inspired writings of energy guru Amory Lovins, but has now added (at the end) it's excellent publications on home energy efficiency.
http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid171.php

If your house in as leaky as mine, an energy audit will pay for itself in the first 12 minutes of cold (or hot) weather. To find a certified auditor in your state, go to:
http://www.natresnet.org/dir/raters/default.htm

To learn what plants are native to your area, start here:
http://www.wildflower2.org/