The sixteen birds detailed in this charming field guide will be well known to birders in Connecticut, but the attention to detail and personality quirks in each bird's description make A Field Guide to the Birds of Wesleyan special for any reader. Having dropped out of high school, Blue Jays are truants experiencing cheap thrills. Written after leading a student forum on field ornithology, Oliver James developed A Field Guide to the Birds of Wesleyan to introduce non-birders to a wonderful new way to experience the world through encounters with the birds that are most likely to be found on the campus of this liberal arts college. Each species is described through its most distinctive characteristics, and through specific connections to campus (turkey vultures often seem to be inspecting students on Foss for signs of life as they spiral lazily overhead). A Field Guide to the Birds of Wesleyan features original color illustrations by the author in mixed media watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil capturing the beauty and unique field marks of each bird. Written while the author was a Wesleyan senior and originally published by a student-run publishing group, Wesleyan University Press has issued this new edition to share it with a larger audience.
Oliver James has been an avid birder since he was five years old. After Wesleyan, he worked with Point Blue Conservation Science to monitor land birds migrating down the coast of California. He lives in Portand, Oregon.