Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

This book describes adventures with birds in San Francisco and other places, involving photography, habitat restoration, and rescue attempts. It follows the experiences of a bird lover and naturalist in places that are very wild, and yet are within walking distance of highly urban centers. The life habits of the birds are described, as well as the effect the birds have on the author. The author’s study and love of birds led her to volunteer in the baby bird room at WildCare, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in San Rafael, California. She also received training from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, and in the devastating Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 2007, which affected thousands of migrating and overwintering birds, she was able to use her acquired knowledge to help in efforts to save oiled birds at the worldwide-known International Bird Rescue center in Cordelia, California. Val Shushkewich is the author of two published books: The Real Winnie: A One-of-a-Kind Bear (Toronto: Natural Heritage Books 2003, second printing 2005) is the story of the special real black bear who was the inspiration for the Winnie The Pooh stories. While visiting Assiniboine Park Zoo with her parents in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Val was captivated by the statue of a soldier and a small bear cub. The soldier was Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian with the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment and part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force of World War One. He rescued the orphaned black bear cub and named the bear Winnipeg, or Winnie for short. Winnie accompanied the regiment to training grounds in England and then was taken to the London Zoo when Harry was ordered to the front lines in France. Winnie was an extraordinary bear who became a star attraction at the London Zoo. A. A. Milne’s son, Christopher, loved to visit her, and Winnie became immortalized in the Winnie the Pooh stories. More Than Birds: Adventurous Lives of North American Naturalists (Toronto: Dundurn Press 2012) follows the development of bird natural history studies in North America through the life stories of twenty-two naturalists. The 1800s saw early North American naturalists describing and illustrating the spectacular flora and fauna they found in the New World. Then collectors and scientists of the Smithsonian Institution and the Canadian Museum of Nature worked feverishly to describe and catalogue the species that exist on the continent. After that came the naturalists who were interested in describing the birds and how they lead their lives. Early conservationists were instrumental in the creation of great bird sanctuaries. The emphasis of today’s naturalists, including Robert Nero, Robert Bateman, Kenn Kaufman, and David Allen Sibley, is on doing everything they can to encourage people to experience nature and wildlife directly in their lives. The hope is that once people encounter the natural world more and became aware of its beauty, intricacy, and fragility, they will want to protect and preserve it. A reviewer of More Than Birds wrote the following:'I picked up this book because I was interested in only a couple of the mini biographies of well-known naturalists, but I ended up reading almost the entire book. Shushkewich has a writing style that is clear, easy to read, and she manages to delve into details of lives and research while managing to stay succinct. As a result, the biographies kept my interest, and I was thoroughly engaged.' This book has approximately 330 pages.