The Private Lives of Public Birds: Learning To Listen to the Birds Where We Live

Upon stepping outside their homes, nearly everyone in the world will be met with chirps, peeps, tweets, and twitters—some sweet, some shrill—indicating, of course, the presence of birds; bird sounds are so ubiquitous that they often go unnoticed by people. Nature writer Gedney (Trees of the San Francisco Bay Area) aims to correct course with this book illuminating the sounds of the most common Western U.S. birds (mourning doves; turkey vultures; American crows) in 15 simple yet beautifully crafted essays. Each essay contains descriptive inspired writing, with numerous poetic references as well as beautiful illustrations by Park. Although written specifically to the experience of Californians, Gedney’s essays shed light on bird communication in a way that will engage readers everywhere; his book has the potential to create a bird lover out of anyone who picks it up.