Book Reviews

We periodically discover books we think would be of interest of Cape Arago Audubon Society members and friends, and try to add reviews of these books to this page. Enjoy!

Birds of Coos County
by Tim Rodenkirk, published in 2024

The first book is, of course, “Birds of Coos County” by our very own local bird expert Tim Rodenkirk. This book and an accompanying bird species abundance barchart are available for free download from our Local Birding page.

Owls of the Eastern Ice, a Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl
by Jonathan C Slaght, published in 2020

This is one of the best books I have read. Jonathan documents the time he spent on the SE coast of Russia studying Blakiston’s Fish Owls, an endangered species. For several years Jonathan left his home in the United States and did the field work in Russian along remote, frigid coastal rivers. He set out to locate the owls, study them, and craft a conservation plan to ensure the species’ survival. Because it was easier to find the owls by looking for their tracks in the snow, Jonathan and his team did their research in harsh winter conditions. I found their methods very interesting.

The Genius of Birds
by Jennifer Ackerman, published in 2024.

The author traveled to many places in the world to explore the latest information on bird intelligence. Bird brains are packed with neurons that allow them to have intelligence rivaling primates and humans! The studies and individual examples are so interesting, and I learned so much from the research that has been done.

Lost Among the Birds
by Neil Hayward, published in 2016

This is the author’s detailed story of his 2013 Big Year across America and
Canada. He found an amazing 749 species – one more than Sandi Komito, who had set a record of 748 during his Big Year of 1998; that year’s story was reported in a book and then the famous movie. Hayward did not decide to do a big year until he was well into the birds in late April, so his accomplishment is even more amazing. He even met Komito (by then aged 83) on one of his birding trips during his big year. I enjoyed the book because Hayward reports in great detail the markings, songs and habits of the many special birds he finds. He also describes the habitat and scenery. He has a great sense of humor that makes the book fun to read. A lot of history about Big Years and the rules guiding them make for interesting reading, too. The book includes ( in order of sightings) a list of each bird he saw, the dates and the locations.

To See Every Bird on Earth. A Father , a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession
by Dan Koeppel, published 2005

“To See Every Bird” is a biography of Dan’s father, Richard Koeppel. Even though the book was published in 2005, it is still relevant today; each chapter is full of facts and history of birding obsessions. Richard began his birding in Queens, NY
in 1947 at the age of 12 when he saw a Brown Thrasher. He became one of the world’s big Listers, seeing over 7,000 birds in his lifetime. Many of his bird trips were guided by Bret Whitney. The book is full of the history of birding, including stories about Elliot Coues who in 1874 created the check list of North American Birds, listing 637 species in 137 pages. By 2005 the 7th edition was 829 pages long with descriptions of 2,030 birds, from an Arctic Tern on the islands off the Bering Sea to Panama’s Darien Gap’s Harpy Eagle.

While informing us about Listers, we learn about Phoebe Snetsinger and Paul Kaestner and their intricate methods of listing. After Snetsinger was diagnosed with cancer and told she had only six months to live, she decided to go birding in Alaska. She spent the next 20 or so years of her life travelling the world and saw over 8,500 species! She missed a daughter’s wedding due to a conflict with a planned birding trip. The author educates us on Lumpers, ornithologists who combine several species, and Splitters, who do the opposite. We also read short biographies of many birders including Jean Jacques Fougere Audubon and Roger Tory Peterson, who was a member of the Bronx, NY birding club. In May, 1949, Richard Koeppel was invited to join that club’s team for a big day ion New York City’s outer boroughs, so he met Roger Peterson, who was know at that time at the age of 19 as the best birder in the group. The book is so full on information that I am sure all readers will find something to interest and delight them.

Birding to Change the World: A Memoir
by Trish O’Kane, published 2024

When her home in New Orleans is flooded with 11.5 feet of water after Hurricane Katrina, the author moved to Madison, Wisconsin to complete her PhD in environmental studies. She had spent most of her previous career as a journalist reporting on human rights violations in Central America and the southern United States with no interest in birds. While living in a low income neighborhood on the edge of a huge city park, Trish became obsessed with catbirds and the other over 100 species of birds she found in the park. The park is also full of other wildlife, including foxes.

When the park was threatened with development and the continuation of extreme fireworks display, she did an amazing amount of research and organization of the neighborhood folks to fight it and save the park for its wildlife and human enjoyment. As a professor of ornithology at the college, she paired her students with middle school children to spend time in the park learning about the birds. Her book is full of details about science of bird life, from migration and parenting to the territorial defense strategies that influence her own activism. Our own Ann Vileisis from Port Orford is cited as a wetlands historian on page 161! Ann wrote a book on the history of wetlands several years ago, and I have it and was excited to see O’Kane refer to Ann.

The book is written so well that I could not wait to get back to reading it to see what happened next and to learn more about birds. It is also an inspiration for us to get involved to save what we can of the habitat that is left and create more habitat for our birds and other wildlife.