Inspired by Walden and by the nature writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, and John Muir, and influenced by the poetry of William Wordsworth, William Cullen Bryant, and other Romantic poets, Bernard Charles Barnick sought to write about nature with feeling and with imagination. In a book designed to make one feel at home in nature, Mr. Barnick shares many of his own observations of birds and other wildlife dating back to his childhood, proceeding through his numerous outdoor excursions in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and including many of his travels throughout the state. He has combined his love of birds with a love of nature, astronomy, literature, and history to form a uniquely poetic or Romantic view of "Penn's Woods"—a state that is rich both in natural history and in human history.