Maine writer and internationally renowned naturalist Bernd Heinrich will speak on his most recent book, “One Wild Bird at a Time,” at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 28, at Devaney, Doak and Garrett Booksellers, 193 Broadway, Farmington.

In “One Wild Bird at a Time,” Heinrich returns to his great love: close, day-to-day observations of individual wild birds. There are countless books on bird behavior, but Heinrich argues that some of the most amazing bird behaviors fall below the radar of what most birds do in aggregate.

Heinrich’s “passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science” (New York Times Book Review) lead to fascinating questions — and sometimes startling discoveries. A great crested flycatcher, while bringing food to the young in their nest, is attacked by the other flycatcher nearby. Why? A pair of Northern flickers hammering their nest-hole into the side of Heinrich’s cabin deliver the opportunity to observe the feeding competition between siblings, and to make a related discovery about nest-cleaning. One of a clutch of redstart warbler babies fledges out of the nest from twenty feet above the ground, and lands on the grass below. It can’t fly. What will happen next?

About “One Wild Bird,” the Boston Globe writes:“[Heinrich] looks closely, with his trademark ‘hands-and-knees science’ at its most engaging, [delivering] what can only be called psychological marvels of knowing.” 

Bestselling author Amy Tan says of Heinrich, “(his) books open my eyes and help me see the wonder of the natural world…I love the fascinating details of his drawings, the lyricism of his observations, the way he unveils not only the physical workings of nature but the stories and dramas within it.”

 

Copy the Story Link