It's human nature to worry about the people and things we love. Often we feel our contributions are small, our efforts ineffective. Friends, I love birds and I'd like to share my thoughts on a book I bought called 101 Ways to Help Birds by Laura Erickson.Laura's book is direct and practical in offering concrete ideas, ways we can help birds. She starts her approach in the home- from composting and recycling, to making your windows safer for birds and knowing what to do if a bird does strike your window. From the home she moves out to the yard. She suggests we learn about the flora and fauna in our yards, neighborhoods and regions. She offers many suggestions in managing and caring for our backyard habitats and beyond. We need to make choices that effect birds in the larger world too and Laura reminds us to be compassionate and ethical in our birdwatching, wherever it takes us. Laura cares passionately about the environment and believes we can and must have a positive impact on it. She explains 101 ways to do just that. We all have an obligation to protect the birds that we love and this book has given me some new ideas. Please check it out- or better yet, buy it. You'll learn a lot and find yourself empowered with ways to help.
I am fortunate to have met Laura on birding trips here in Minnesota. She is gracious and very generous in sharing her birding knowledge and experience. She is an ornithologist and lives in Duluth.
Laura Erickson has a wonderful blog called Laura's Birding Blog. There she also has a link to her informative and entertaining podcasts about birds.
I feel strongly about this book. Are there any birding books you would recommend?
9 comments:
Great book recommendation. I have a few books I like, but nothing exceptional that others don't probably already have. I do recommend getting a bird book specifically for your state--it really helps when you're a beginner.
This looks like a great book, Lynne. Thanks for the recommendation.
Nice book - I bought that too for our library. I'll have to think about recommendations..
Laura's "101 Ways to Help Birds" should be mandatory reading for all birders, be they novice or experienced. When ever I give any talks about watching birds I always take a moment to recommend it, as well as her podcasts. Another book I really like, especially for beginners to help them get a sense of the biridng world, is Simon Barnes' "How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher." Simon is English so the content is peppered with English examples and stories, but the most important part, his philosophy about watching birds, is the essential element and it is not diminished by "crossing the pond."
Sounds like a great book! Will check it out!
Hi Lynne,
I got Laura's book also at our WBU store in Rochester and had her autograph it for me when she spoke at our Zumbro Valley Audubon meeting last spring. It's a wonderful book and full of examples of things to do to help birds that I wasn't even aware of.
I can't think of any books specific to birding right off the top of my head, but I'm currently reading "A Slice of Organic Life" which has many excellent ideas for making the world a better (and chemical free) place for humans and birds and I would recommend checking that book out from the local library.
I'll check it out, too. Thanks for the recommendation.
Good recommendation, Lynne. I hopped over to Laura's blog and found it to be great!
Thanks!
Haven't read that one-I'll give it a look on my upcoming vacation-thanks!
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