For the birds! (reading month)

It all started when my sister noticed a new exhibit:

"Celebrating Birds of the Pacific Northwest", at the Oregon Historical Society, through November 26th, 2023

https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/celebrating-birds-of-the-pacific-northwest.cfm 

It's just photos of local birds, but we like birds and we like OHS, so we were definitely going to go.

It occurred to me, though, that I might get more enjoyment out of it if I read this other book on my reading list first: 

Must-See Birds of the Pacific Northwest: 85 Unforgettable Species, Their Fascinating Lives, and How to Find Them by Sarah Swanson and Max Smith

I know that was a good selection because one of the first photos I saw was of a Green Heron -- featured in the book -- and I recognized it instantly. Previously I had not been familiar with it. 

Also common between the book and the exhibit, while being new to me, were Townsend's Warblers, Lazuli Buntings, and Tundra Swans. They are all now in the spreadsheet of local places where one might see them.

There were some gorgeous photos. One might think that the Wood Duck was over-represented; whereas each other species appears in one shot, there are three of the Wood Duck. However, they are really good pictures. One shows the bird from the back, on the water, with wings spread, and it's almost abstract.

So I do recommend the exhibit, and it goes well with that book, which is available through the Washington County Library System.

However, I am the type to get easily pulled into things. I happened to remember these two other bird books that I also ended up reading before we went to the exhibit:

Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans by John Marzluff and Tony Angell

The Thing With Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker 

The crow book is strongly grounded in neurology. That higher level of difficulty may not appeal to everyone, but Corvids are so charming that it creates a lot of appeal.

Strycker is a Eugene native, and his book is a collection of essays focusing on one trait, and one bird species used to explore it. Some of the essays are quite moving. 

While I was reading those, I remembered one other book. I did not get to read it until after we saw the exhibit, but I had already checked it out by then.

Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson

Hanson is also a resident of the Pacific Northwest, though a bit further North. He explores the design and features and functions of the feather, which is quite miraculous. 

It may have been the best of the books.

I don't know how much I was thinking of these other books while at the exhibit, but they were interesting and reading them closely together does seem to help the information settle in my mind.

This is why I also watched a webinar on the electric grid and bird issues:

"Birds and Transmission: West Region Webinar" by Audubon Rockies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yE_8imVjA

(This was less bird-centric, but relates to sustainability which is important to me.)

However, if I am going to mention bird books I have read, I really need to mention one more:

Peterson Guide to Bird Identification --- in 12 Steps by Steve N.G. Howell and Brian L. Sullivan (2018)

Normally field guides are for a specific area and the expected species, but this is going back a step before, or maybe a step forward, to help you use those field guides more effectively. 

All of which may beg the question, am I a bird watcher?

No. I do not go out looking for birds. I do look for everything when I am out and about, and I want to know what I see. Therefore, when a Wilson's Warbler appeared in our yard and I could not recognize it, we made a trip to the Audubon Society on Cornell where a big part of my motivation was finding out what that little yellow bird was. (And it worked!)

Reading about those 85, they were all ones that could be seen in Oregon, but many of them could be seen right around here. I started not wanting to forget, which is why I started adding it to a spreadsheet. I thought that maybe I should start tracking at least the ones in the spreadsheet down.

That is probably a bit less than half of them, because some would be much harder to find, but I have about 40 that should be very doable, and yet...

I can see myself becoming totally obsessive about this. I don't really need that. 

I am not going to do anything with it right away.

For another point of interest, one of the Must-See birds was the Sooty Shearwater, which has a long migratory route. I started wondering if those were the birds we saw when we were on Phillip Island for the Penguin Parade. Apparently, though, those were Short-Tailed Shearwaters, which do sometimes end up on the Oregon Coast, but less commonly.

There are ways in which the world is both big and small.