Bird Book Club
Our book club is an opportunity to read books, meet the authors, and join others in fun discussions. We meet once each month on a Thursday for about one hour beginning at 8 p.m. EST. To join, you must register for each session. Links are provided with upcoming books below. Visit our SHOP to purchase current and past books.
What people say about Bird Book Club:
“Very informative presentation” “The book club meeting was great” “Thank you for this wonderful book club.” “I love this book club.” “Thank you so much!! The book is fascinating and awesome!” “Thank you for this excellent talk tonight.”
Bird Book Club - upcoming events
Birdgirl : Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future by Mya-Rose
Thursday, Sept 28th, 2023, 12pm.
Register HERE
This is a lunch event!
Meet Mya-Rose – British-Bangladeshi birder, environmentalist and activist. otherwise known as “Birdgirl.” In her words: “Birdwatching has never felt like a hobby, or a pastime I can pick up and put down, but a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven in that there’s no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact.”
Birdgirl follows Mya-Rose and her family as they travel the world in search of rare birds and astonishing landscapes. But a shadow moves with them, too—her mother’s deepening mental health crisis. In the face of this struggle, the Craigs turn to nature again and again for comfort and meaning.
Each bird they see brings a moment of joy and reflection, instilling in Mya-Rose a deep love of the natural world. But Mya-Rose has also seen first-hand the reckless destruction we are inflicting on our fragile planet, as well as the pervasive racism infecting every corner of the world, leading her to campaign for Black, Indigenous, people of color.
A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds Hardcover by Anders Gyllenhaal (Author), Beverly Gyllenhaal (Author)
Thursday, Oct 26th 2023, 5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET
A captivating drama from the frontlines of the race to save birds set against the devastating loss of one third of the avian population.
Three years ago, headlines delivered shocking news: nearly three billion birds in North America have vanished over the past fifty years. No species has been spared, from the most delicate jeweled hummingbirds to scrappy black crows, from a rainbow of warblers to common birds such as owls and sparrows.
In a desperate race against time, scientists, conservationists, birders, wildlife officers, and philanthropists are scrambling to halt the collapse of species with bold, experimental, and sometimes risky rescue missions. High in the mountains of Hawaii, biologists are about to release clouds of laboratory-bred mosquitos in a last-ditch attempt to save Hawaii’s remaining native forest birds. In Central Florida, researchers have found a way to hatch Florida Grasshopper Sparrows in captivity to rebuild a species down to its last two dozen birds.
For the past year, veteran journalists Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal traveled more than 25,000 miles across the Americas, chronicling costly experiments, contentious politics, and new technologies to save our beloved birds from the brink of extinction.
Return of the Condor: The Race to Save Our Largest Bird from Extinction by John Moir
Thursday, Nov 16th, 2023, 5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET
Register Here
Return of the Condor is far and away the best book on the subject. John Moir covered the condor recovery effort for magazines and newspapers for years and his extensive and award-winning journalism, including an investigative piece for Birding magazine, became this fine book. Moir presents a unique insider’s view of the remarkable tale of saving a species from the brink of extinction.
Down to a population of only twenty-two in the 1980s, the condor owes its survival and recovery to a team of scientists who flouted conventional wisdom and pursued the most controversial means to save it. John Moir’s account shows the depth of their passion and courage and details the bitter controversy that led to a national debate over how to save America’s largest bird.
Call of the Kingfisher by Nick Penny
Thursday January 25th 2024 11 am PT, 12pm MT, 1pm CT, 1pm ET
Register Here
Call of the Kingfisher is the enchanting debut from composer and wildlife recordist Nick Penny. This love letter to a short stretch of Northamptonshire’s River Nene celebrates all the wild things that live there, especially the kingfishers. Uniquely, it comes with bonus audio content to complement the text, accessed via QR codes.
Nick has walked beside the river at Oundle for four decades. But for a whole year he gave the waterway all the time it asked for. The more attention he gave it, the more he saw the kingfishers and heard their high whistling calls. Set in a lovely but little-known part of England, Call of the Kingfisher relates a year by the river, the author’s experiences there and the different people he meets.
As a composer and wildlife recordist, Nick has a deep interest in sounds in the natural environment. He uses the local landscape and wildlife sounds as inspiration, and brings fresh insights into the sounds of the countryside. The book includes access to a number of high-quality birdsong recordings made alongside the River Nene – audio soundbites of nature’s riches, from kingfishers and nightingales to owls and cuckoos.
Find more Birds by Heather Wolf
Thursday February 29th 2024 11 am PT, 12pm MT, 1pm CT, 1pm ET
Register Here
Seeing more birds than you ever imagined and witnessing exciting avian drama is possible—whether you’re on the go or in your own neighborhood, local park, or backyard. As Heather Wolf explains, it all comes down to how you tune in to the show happening around you, the one in which birds—highly skilled at staying under the radar—are the stars. In Find More Birds, Heather shares her very best tactics—and the jaw-dropping photographs they helped her capture.
- Look for birds at their favorite “restaurants”— from leaf litter to berry bushes, and ball fields to small patches of mud.
- Watch for “tree bark” that moves . . . you may find it has feathers.
- Try simply sitting on the ground for a revealing new perspective.
Plus, special tips point the way to crowd favorites such as hummingbirds, owls, and eagles—and can’t-miss bird behaviors!
Alfie & Me by Carl Safina
Thursday, March 28th, 2024, 5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET
Register here
When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they’d rescued, she’d be a temporary presence. But Alfie’s feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a part of the family, joining a menagerie of dogs and chickens and making a home for herself in the backyard. Carl and Patricia began to realize that the healing was mutual; Alfie had been braided into their world, and was now pulling them into hers. Alfie & Me is the story of the remarkable impact this little owl would have on their lives.
The Wingsnappers, by Barney A. Schlinger
Thursday, April 25th 2024, 5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET
Register Here
Birds, hormones, and extraordinary behavior: The story of the tiny but mighty golden-collared manakin of Panama
This book is the story of a remarkable bird, the golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus) of Panama. Males of this species perform one of the most elaborate, physically complex, and noisy courtship displays of any animal on the planet. Barney A. Schlinger delves into the specialized neurons, muscles, bones, and hormonal systems underlying the manakin’s unique courtship behavior, creating a rich life-history account that integrates field observations and evolutionary biology with behavioral ecology, anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and general ornithology.
