by Jim Gast

I was talking to Emma Buckingham about the CAS January 15^th book discussion on Amy Tan’s The Backyard Bird Chronicles and mentioned that I have been reading some other bird-related books this year. She said she was always looking for good books on birds to read. You might want to check these out especially if you have Tan’s book on hold.  All these titles (listed alphabetically) are available at the Columbia Public Library.

Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World Christian Cooper

You may remember Christian Cooper from the Central Park incident in May 2020. He is a the black birder who recorded a white women’s dog off-leash.  She called he police and said he was threatening her.  The charges were proven to be unsubstantiated. This story is just one of Cooper’s life events he describes in his book.  He writes about being a “blerd,” a black nerd, because of his love of comic book heroes, being gay, and being a birdwatcher.  His birding experiences include South America, the foothills of the Himalaya and Alabama.  He also writes about the turmoil of his family life.

Birding to Change the World: A Memoir Trish O’Kane

The author recounts her experiences living in New Orleans after Katrina and in Madison, Wisconsin and Burlington, Vermont. She uses her bird observations to influence public policy. For example, she used bird data to get Madison to move its fireworks display away from a marsh after pointing out that the debris was detrimental.  O’Kane also describes setting up mentoring programs in Madison and Burlington where college students pair with kids to go birding and explore nature. They were highly successful in both places.

The Birds That Audubon Missed Kenn Kaufman

I had just started reading this book when I was able to pickup Amy Tan’s book from the library so I have not finished it. The Prologue deals with Audubon and his rivalry with Alexander Wilson. Kaufman also points out that Audubon liked to embellish his stories and that there are inconsistencies in his accounts of his findings. Who knew that Lincoln’s Sparrow was initially called Tom’s Finch after Thomas Lincoln, the person who captured it in Labrador?

Field Guide to North American Flycatchers Cin-Ty Lee; Illustrations by Andrew Birch

I asked the library to get this book on inter-library loan and they ended up buying it instead. The bar chart with the flycatcher characteristics is very useful in trying to separate the empids.  The illustrations are also helpful.

Migrations Charlotte McConaghy

This book is actually a novel and I only read it because it was the 2024 One Read for Columbia Public Library. The story takes place in the future and there has been a mass extinction happening. Franny Stone, the main character, is on a ship tracking the migration of the last few Arctic Terns. She persuades the ship’s captain to bring her aboard by promising that by following the terns, the crew will be able to find the fish the seek. Franny also has a dark past that plays into the plot line.

Ten Birds That Changed the World Stephen Moss

Moss is a British naturalist who writes about the relationship between people and ten bird species: raven, pigeon, Wild Turkey, Dodo, Darwin’s finch, Guanay Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Bald Eagle, tree sparrow, and Emperor Penguin. Some of these relationships include Mao’s attempt to eradicate tree sparrows from China which led to insects destroying food crops leading to famine, introducing rats to Mauritius which led to the Dodo going extinct and how global warming is affecting Emperor Penguins.