An Instinct for Survival: Ten Nature Adventures

By Gillian Richardson

Survival in nature is a constant struggle that depends mostly on instinct...but sometimes on plain old luck.

 

In these ten short stories, animals face dramatic moments when instinct makes the difference between life or death. A young mountain goat trusts his unproven agility in a daring leap. An eagle uses her powerful wings in a desperate bid to live. An osprey's fishing luck turns against him. Will their instinctive choices mean survival for these and the other seven animals in the stories? Exciting action and adventure for ages 9-12.

• Language: English
• Publisher: G M Richardson
• Release date: Feb 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781777287221

Gillian Richardson

Nature, science, a lifelong love of reading about animal characters! For Gillian Richardson, this has been the perfect mix for writing 21 children's books, including both fiction (picture books, chapter books, novels), and nonfiction. Bestsellers, Kaboom! Explosions off All Kinds, and 10 Plants That Shook the World, won international awards. Recent ebook publications include Ollie Buggins, Detective? and Take Me With You, both chapter books for ages 6-8. A collection of short stories for ages 9-12, An Instinct for Survival: Ten Nature Adventures, is rich in detail about each animal's lifestyle and environment. Readers glimpse the constant struggle for survival, and a dramatic moment when everything depends on instinct. For older readers, Seasons at Shiregreene is a memoir that recounts years spent in Prince Edward Island

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Copyright Notes

On Wings of Hope by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, September 2009, Volume 37, numb 1. Copyright © 2009 by Gillian Richardson

Tumbleweed Owl by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, August 1994,Volume 21, Number 12. Copyright © 1994 by Gillian Richardson

Winter of the Snowshoe Hare by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, February 1995,Volume 22, Number 6. Republished in Cricket, January 2007, Volume 34, Number 5. Copyright © 1995 by Gillian Richardson

Water Dancer by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, February 2007,Volume 34, Number 6. Copyright © 2007 by Gillian Richardson.

Outfoxed! by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, November 1992,Volume 20, Number 3. Copyright © 1992 by Gillian Richardson

Eagle's Trial by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, May/June 2011,Volume 38, Number 8. Copyright © 2011 by Gillian Richardson

Mountain Magician by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, October 2000,Volume 28, Number 2. Copyright © 2000 by Gillian Richardson

Wawaskesy, the Windrunner by Gillian Richardson. First published in Cricket, March 1997,Volume 24, Number 7. Copyright © 1997 by Gillian Richardson

Introduction

Think of a place...a setting in nature. Now think of a wild animal or bird that lives there. What if that animal faces a perilous challenge that means life or death? What if the worst happens? Can the animal make a split-second decision to trigger an instinct for survival? This happens in these ten stories.

When I lived in rural PEI, a snow-filled woods where snowshoe hares bounded among the trees prompted me to ask, What if the deep snow melted and their safe resting places vanished? Watching a mountain goat on a precarious rocky ledge made me wonder, What if it came to a sheer drop-off and couldn't turn back? I saw a lone pronghorn antelope while I drove outside a prairie city—what if it was lost? How did it become separated from the herd?

A place. An animal. Curiosity. A risky situation. For me, these are the ingredients for an exciting story. I hope you enjoy my action-filled adventures.

On Wings of Hope

A golden flash of light shot from the glass-sided office tower. The morning sun had inched high enough to penetrate the concrete canyons of the prairie city.

A peregrine falcon, perched on one of the highest rooftops, shook his feathers and stretched each wing. He then resumed his proud, watchful pose, as quiet and still as the pale moon now fading in the western sky. Movement far below caught his eye. The bird followed the steady progress of an early morning jogger as she passed from the shadows of the high-rises into a square, green block of city park.

Only a week before, the falcon and his three female siblings had peered at their city home through the bars of a cage. Set on the roof of an office building, the hack box had provided shelter and safety. Food appeared regularly through a small door in the back. The chicks ate, slept and grew until, one day, the falcon sensed that something was different. The confining bars were gone from the front of the box.  A patch of blue sky had taken their place.

Leading his siblings, the falcon hopped boldly out of the box. He stretched his wings and noticed dead quail lying in a mound a short distance away. He seized this food with his talons, tore off a choice piece with his curved beak, and gulped it down. After his meal he remained at the edge of the roof, preening himself and watching the movements of people and cars far below.

Perhaps, instead of the cityscape, the falcon saw in his mind's eye the rocky ledges and wind-swept cliffs that were once home to his species. Coulees, river valleys and undulating prairie would then have spread before him. His ancestors had hunted such wild places, soaring on powerful wings in the crisp, clean sky, then diving on prey at incredible speeds. But an evil had come to them, a poison so devastating that for a time their race was no longer seen in these remote haunts. This falcon belonged to a new generation, whose cliffs and coulees were made of steel, glass, and concrete. He'd been raised by humans who were counting on him bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

Several times the falcon had unfolded his wings and leaned far out