MEMBER CORNER
Welcome to the DBC Book Club
Welcome to the DBC Club, where birders who are readers can share their thoughts about books that explore birds, birding, and related nature topics. The DBC Book Club is open to all members and will meet several times a year for a social evening during which we can talk about the selected book.
Now Reading
Date for next meeting is March 10
The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne
By Chris Sweeney
Lauded by multiple sources as one of the best nonfiction books of 2025, The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne, by Chris Sweeney, shares the fascinating biography of the world’s first forensic ornithologist. Using nothing more than her microscope and bits of feathers, Smithsonian scientist Roxie Laybourne investigated deadly airplane crashes and helped prosecute murderers, kidnappers, and poachers. She broke down barriers for women in science and pioneered a new field in forensics. “A biography that reads like a novel,” said The Wall Street Journal. This one promises to be a great read to start the new year!
For details on the meeting, contact Mike Warner at mwarner2543@gmail.com.
Other Books We’ve Read
Best of Words on Birds
By Jeff Reiter
Authored by our very own Jeff Reiter, The Best of Words on Birds book selects favorite columns from his decades of publishing Words on Birds monthly in The Daily Herald. Columns focus on individual species, birding tips and know-how for beginners, interesting people or books in the field, and Jeff’s own personal experiences as a birder.
The Comfort of Crows
By Margaret Renkl
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year. Written by Margaret Renkl, the book’s 52 chapters follow the creatures and plants in the author’s backyard over the course of a year. Reviewer’s call it “a luminous book” that celebrates the natural world. Each chapter is beautifully illustrated with original color artwork.
A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save our Vanishing Birds
By Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal
The book detailed the Gyllenhaals’ year-long road trip to visit bird conservation sites in the U.S. Living out of an Airstream trailer, they drove over 25,000 miles to see for themselves the people who are working feverishly to save endangered bird species.
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent and Think
By Jenifer Ackerman
This book explores the many strategies birds use to communicate, forage, court, breed, and survive, including fascinating behaviors like manipulation, deception, collaboration, altruism, teaching, and more. It holds a treasure trove of learning that is sure to enhance an appreciation of our avian friends.
Season On The Wind
By Kenn Kaufman
A Season on the Wind, Kenn Kaufman’s fascinating account of the science and magic of spring migration and its many perils as it is experienced at one key location familiar to many of us—the shores of Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio at the famed Magee Marsh and environs.
Wesley the Owl
By Stacey O'Brien
Widely lauded by the nature community and a New York Times Bestseller, Wesley the Owl tells the story of the special relationship that developed between an injured Barn Owl and the woman who adopted him and committed two decades of her life to his care when it was determined he could not live as a wild bird.
The Life of the Skies, Birding at the End of Nature
By Jonathan Rosen
Life of the Skies by noted author Jonathan Rosen is described as part birding history, part travelogue, and part exploration of man’s relationship to nature.
Kingbird Highway
By Kenn Kaufman
Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder, the much-praised account by Kenn Kaufman of his yearlong “Big Year” adventure as a teenager exploring America in the ‘70s. A unique coming of age story, the memoir recounts how the “thrill of the chase” evolved into a quest to connect with nature on a deeper level.