United States
£ GBP
The first book on the birds of California's oaks, from our most lyrical and observant wanderer of the woods.
With charm and delight, The Birds in the Oaks introduces us to the birds who burrow, forage, and soar among California's keystone trees. The mighty oak hosts a multitude of avian denizens – from canopy hoppers to ground nesters to short-billed surface pluckers – who rely on the trees' well-stocked pantry of acorns, insects, and flowers for sustenance and shelter. Spunky kinglets, crimson-eyed towhees, cuddle-craving bushtits, intrepid nuthatches, and impudent wrens are among the many memorable cast members in this pageant of oak-allied birds.
Jack Gedney lyrically conveys the beautiful, comic, and endearing qualities of over fifteen bird species, each profile paired with an illustration by Angelina Gedney. His bird-filled tales of adaptation, ingenuity, and sheer persistence also bring to light the warp and weft of cross-species interdependence. The Birds in the Oaks reveals to us the utter joy of birds, the superabundant world of the oaks, and the innumerable interconnections these living beings create.
The Heart of the Oak Woodland
- The Soul of the Oaks: Oak Titmouse
- The Prober of the Furrows: White-breasted Nuthatch
- The Kinglet and the Greenlet: Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Hutton's Vireo
- The Relatability of the Absurd: Acorn Woodpecker
The Birds Beneath the Oaks
- Discontented Shadows: Spotted Towhee
- The Gentleness That Binds: California Quail
- A Bird at Our Level: Bewick's Wren
- The Little Tailor: Bushtit
Visitors from the Pines and Firs
- A Fire Rises: Northern Flicker
- The Antidote of Fear: Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- The Winter Thrushes: Hermit and Varied Thrush
- A Light in Winter: Townsend's Warbler
Between Oak and Sky
- Grayness Overcome: Western Bluebird
- The Living Wind: Band-tailed Pigeon
- The Falcon of the Oaks: American Kestrel
- The Sky Elf: Violet-green Swallow
Acknowledgements
Notes
About the Author
Jack Gedney is also the author of The Private Lives of Public Birds: Learning to Listen to the Birds Where We Live and a compact field guide to the trees of the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2018, he has written a column on local birds, "On the Wing," for the Marin Independent Journal. Jack currently co-owns a wild bird feeding and nature shop in Novato, California.
Angelina Gedney is an artist based in Davis, California.
Praise for The Private Lives of Public Birds by Jack Gedney (2022):
"I'm a serious backyard birder with a library of over a hundred bird books. Gedney's is now one of my top favorites." - Amy Tan
"In this magical study, Gedney gathers 15 essays on 15 unique species of western birds. Bird-watchers, nature lovers, and anyone curious about avian life will find joy in this blend of poetry and biological writing, complete with illustrations of each bird by Anna Kus Park." -Alta Journal
"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." -Library Journal
"I love that this book encourages us to look more closely at what is right under our noses. [...] It has the power to bring joy to our daily lives if we take the time to slow down, look around, and listen a little more." -Seattle Book Review
"The Private Lives of Public Birds is an affectionate love song to our most familiar feathered neighbors. Grounded in science but watered by the heart of a poet, this intimate and personal look at the lives of the birds we see every day invites us to slow down and look again." -John Muir Laws
