Watch a blue jay with an acorn. See that they take the caps off.

June 15, 2023 2:40 PM

The Slow Birding project, on the pleasures of and lessons learned from carefully observing common birds, was launched 13 years ago by animal behavior biologist Joan E. Strassmann. Now it's a book. An author interview: "the reason I wrote a whole book is that I wanted to tell the stories of the commonest birds, because the commonest birds are also the most-studied, and ornithologists have figured out some pretty amazing stories about them. So I also wanted to tell the stories of both the scientists and the common birds." On blue jays: "It may well be that these brilliant colored birds are the only ones I recognize in my early morning daze."

Author talk with Strassmann.

posted by spamandkimchi (10 comments total)

I got this book for my birthday and actually just finished it recently! Even being pretty familiar with the birds she discussed, having been watching them at my feeders for many years, I learned some fascinating new things about them and their behaviors. I've been bothering my family by pointing out the various new things I've learned as we walk around the neighborhood, so it's a real win for everyone involved!
posted by Zargon X at 3:50 PM on June 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

This looks great. I was just thinking about how little we know about behaviors and animal and plant interactions in my region. You could look at any tree in bloom and record which birds and insects are coming to it and it would be data that is probably impossible to find online.
posted by snofoam at 4:02 PM on June 15, 2023

I'm not sure I'd be surprised by anything a Corvid does.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:54 PM on June 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Thanks for the post! Just ordered the book.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 6:44 AM on June 16, 2023

I’ve never really trusted blue jays since the time I came around a corner and surprised one sitting in a small tree on the front lawn, holding the corpse of a smaller bird, which it immediately dropped on the ground and pretended to be unaware of. It then tried to look aggressively nonchalant until I left.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 6:50 AM on June 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

What lovely, pithy accounts on her blog. I hope there will be an audiobook read by the author, God willing.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 7:47 AM on June 16, 2023

Update: she is the narrator of the audiobook, per the video in the FPP!
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 7:49 AM on June 16, 2023

As opposed to “slow bird”ing
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41188319-the-field-guide-to-dumb-birds-of-north-america

The Strassmanns really are an entire family of fascinating, quirky, and wonderful birders. I’m lucky to count some as among my best friends. They’re also friends with Cin Ty Lee:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74890444-field-guide-to-north-american-flycatchers if you’re looking to make one of the more inaccessible aspects of birding in North America (empids) more accessible.
posted by rubatan at 8:00 AM on June 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Thank you, rubatan, I just ordered the empid book. I spent 10 minutes on Wednesday looking at a flycatcher with 2 other experienced birders going through the whole rigamarole. It wasn't a pewee, but it stayed quiet, so who knows?
posted by mollweide at 8:46 PM on June 16, 2023

Something I really appreciated about my last ex was that he did exactly this. We'd be sitting outside or walking around somewhere, and he'd often stop and point out - "hey, look at that bird over there, let's hang out a second and just watch what it does." And he was saying this about things like pigeons or house sparrows.

But it was delightful. I've talked before about one time when we were in the Central Park Zoo and were hanging out in an aviary section for about 20 minutes watching a whole nesting-battle going on, and most people weren't even noticing.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:23 AM on June 21, 2023