- 304 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
In this uplifting memoir, a professor and activist shares what birds can teach us about life, social change, and protecting the environment.
Trish O’Kane is an accidental ornithologist. In her nearly two decades writing about justice as an investigative journalist, she'd never paid attention to nature. But then Hurricane Katrina destroyed her New Orleans home, sending her into an emotional tailspin.
Enter a scrappy cast of feathered characters—first a cardinal, urban parrots, and sparrows, then a catbird, owls, a bittern, and a woodcock—that cheered her up and showed her a new path. Inspired, O'Kane moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to pursue an environmental studies PhD. There she became a full-on bird obsessive—logging hours in a stunningly biodiverse urban park, filling field notebooks with bird doings and dramas, and teaching ornithology to college students and middle-school kids.
When Warner Park—her daily birdwatching haven—was threatened with development, O’Kane and her neighbors mustered a mighty murmuration of nature lovers, young and old, to save the birds' homes. Through their efforts, she learned that once you get outside and look around, you're likely to fall in love with a furred or feathered creature—and find a flock of your own.
In Birding to Change the World, O'Kane details the astonishing science of bird life, from migration and parenting to the territorial defense strategies that influenced her own activism. A warm and compelling weave of science and social engagement, this is the story of an improbably band of bird lovers who saved their park. And it is a blueprint for muscular citizenship, powered by joy.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Prologue
- Chapter 1: Strange Teachers
- Chapter 2: C’est Levee
- Chapter 3: Song of the House Sparrow
- Chapter 4: Our Lady of the Applesauce
- Chapter 5: The Quiet Broken Ones
- Chapter 6: A Category Five Plan
- Chapter 7: Hail to the Thunder-Pumper
- Chapter 8: Roll That Teacher Down the Hill
- Chapter 9: The Great Geese Wars
- Chapter 10: The Birder’s Gaze
- Chapter 11: In the Kingdom of Dumetella
- Chapter 12: An Elephant, a Magnificent Jellyfish, and an American Woodcock Walk into a Bar . . .
- Epilogue
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author
- Also by Trish O’Kane
- Copyright
- About the Publisher