If you are attempting to live a life right by animals, you are in for a long and arduous road. Trish O’Kane is a living example of this reality. Her warmup years were spent as a human rights lawyer in Central America during the “peak season” of conflict. To relax, she moved to New Orleans right before Katrina. She lost everything, but in the process of trying to cope she began to notice birds. (COVID gave me the time to pay attention, for the first time.) “Birding to Change the World,” is the story of this life, and of what came after Katrina, another battle, this time dealing with the American city obsession over destroying green spaces.
O’Kane describes the frontline of Madison, Wisconsin, and the efforts to save a local park under threat from city planners who don’t understand the space, the connection to the community, or much about the animals that live there. We don’t have much wild space left, so any win is a good win. Ultimately, our system is build to destroy under the pretext of “progress,” driven by many who don’t use green spaces, or engage with nature themselves. Paving over and closing off are ubiquitous. This could be exponentially worse a few weeks from now. And people, once it’s gone, it’s gone.
I enjoyed this book, and thank you to the person who suggested it here on Shifter. If you are one of those people who say “I only want to read about happy things,” well, you should toughen up first of all, but you should also read this book. There is a happy ending. But to get there you must endure the war. Anyone who has spent time with city officials will know the minefield that O’Kane has to walk, and the sizable workload to deal with how cities are run, and how decisions are made. And buried inside the book are the birds. The glorious, humorous, enduring birds who somehow continue to survive in a modern world bent on doing as much damage as possible. Get it, read it.
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We love birds and watching them. We feed hummers in the summer and songbirds in the winter. We live in a rural area so there are plenty of birds, but we notice a drop off of certain species. Birds that were ubiquitous when I was growing up, like robins in particular, are not seen as often anymore. Joni got it right over fifty years ago, “Pave paradise and put up a parking lot”.
Author
Huge losses over the past decade. Staggering numbers. And our version of “progress” will kill us all.
Daniel, I just caught a pair of eagles in a tree with the moon behind them! When I get back to civilization I’ll send you a photo
Author
That’s a find!
Will definitely read this one – right up my alley. Thanks for telling us about it.
Meanwhile, here at the house, I saw a red tailed hawk sitting on the backyard gate. I was eye to eye with this beautiful bird, maybe 10 feet away, and I stood there in complete awe for I don’t know how long. Yeah, I said hi! My neighbors already think I’m nuts so who cares. I was in awe. Then a couple days later, I saw a gorgeous owl sitting in a low tree branch, again maybe 10 feet away. And again, awe. I guess I should be sad I didn’t have my camera with me but then again, even if I had, I doubt I would have raised it to my eye. I was too busy enjoying these magical encounters.
Author
We had an owl on the patio. Curious little bugger. My wife = immediately in love.
An owl flew right over my head when I was looking at my house to possibly purchase it. I took it as a good omen and so far, I’m finding that I was right to do so. Owls do = immediate love!
Author
Yes, PUT AN OFFER IN QUICK…..
Owls are awesome. We have an interesting Owl issue happening in Washington these days. Curious decisions made on both sides.
I just last week heard a bird song that was driving me nuts with Deja- vu.
I knew full well I had heard it many times but couldn’t remember and couldn’t see the culprit.
Turns out it was a Red-winged Blackbird.
If any of you have seen the movie Ratatouille, when Anton takes the bite and is transported back to childhood, that silly bird song plopped me right back into a canoe on a small Minnesota lake with my Dad.
Author
Funny you should mention this. Finding birds at this point in my life, they often remind me of times with my parents.
My first legit bird photoshoot were short eared owls diving and rising in a Wisconsin marsh just before the snow started to fly, and it’s thrilling to capture them in flight, they dart about like moths. They are now some of my favorite pics I’ve done.
Author
Man, that’s a great first shoot. Owls are incredible. Most people start with the normal stuff. Robins, sparrows, etc. You went to the elimination round right off the bat.