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Turning to Birds
Discover an eye-opening world of meaning in small moments with this search for peace in a cacophony of birds – from award winning actor Lili Taylor.
During a much-needed break from her work as an actor, Lili Taylor sought silence and instead found the bustling, symphonic world of birds that had always existed around her. Since then, she has entered the world of birdwatching and kept a keen eye pressed to her binoculars in search of vivid stories that elevate the everyday, if you only look.
Through a series of beautifully crafted essays, Taylor shares her intimate encounters with the birds that have captured her heart and imagination – from learning the virtue of patience from the Gambel’s quail in New Mexico to experiencing a moment of connection with the wonderfully strange
woodcock in Ohio; from the exhilaration of witnessing a migratory flock from the top of the Empire State Building to the quiet joy of observing a nest of hatchlings in her own backyard. Through simply paying attention to birds, Lili has seen a parallel world that is wider and deeper, one of constant change and movement, full of life and the will to survive.
In Turning to Birds, Taylor encourages mindfulness, inviting you to be present and fully engaged with the world around you. Her beautiful prose and thoughtful meditations on both the art we make and the art we discover around us create a sense of intimacy and wonder, inviting you to see the world through new eyes and to find joy in the most unexpected places.
During a much-needed break from her work as an actor, Lili Taylor sought silence and instead found the bustling, symphonic world of birds that had always existed around her. Since then, she has entered the world of birdwatching and kept a keen eye pressed to her binoculars in search of vivid stories that elevate the everyday, if you only look.
Through a series of beautifully crafted essays, Taylor shares her intimate encounters with the birds that have captured her heart and imagination – from learning the virtue of patience from the Gambel’s quail in New Mexico to experiencing a moment of connection with the wonderfully strange
woodcock in Ohio; from the exhilaration of witnessing a migratory flock from the top of the Empire State Building to the quiet joy of observing a nest of hatchlings in her own backyard. Through simply paying attention to birds, Lili has seen a parallel world that is wider and deeper, one of constant change and movement, full of life and the will to survive.
In Turning to Birds, Taylor encourages mindfulness, inviting you to be present and fully engaged with the world around you. Her beautiful prose and thoughtful meditations on both the art we make and the art we discover around us create a sense of intimacy and wonder, inviting you to see the world through new eyes and to find joy in the most unexpected places.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2025
192 people are currently reading
5161 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 258 reviews
May 11, 2025
This is a gorgeous book. The essays are beautifully written, inspiring, and frequently lol funny.
This book met me right where I am right now - with a Gen X sensibility in middle age, an appreciation for how birding cultivates awe, a leaning into introversion and coffeeshops. I also learned SO much from this book.
Seriously SWOON.
I do think people who are not Gen X or middle-age or burgeoning bird nerds would also love this book.
I listened to the audio version and it was a real treat.
This book met me right where I am right now - with a Gen X sensibility in middle age, an appreciation for how birding cultivates awe, a leaning into introversion and coffeeshops. I also learned SO much from this book.
Seriously SWOON.
I do think people who are not Gen X or middle-age or burgeoning bird nerds would also love this book.
I listened to the audio version and it was a real treat.
December 30, 2025
3.5*
Turning to Birds is a collection of 12 short essays by actor Lily Taylor. While the stories are connected by the subject of birds, they are all also about noticing your surroundings and about the author herself. They are charming and unexpected, well worth a read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Turning to Birds is a collection of 12 short essays by actor Lily Taylor. While the stories are connected by the subject of birds, they are all also about noticing your surroundings and about the author herself. They are charming and unexpected, well worth a read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
October 22, 2025
If you’re already into birding, I think you’ll love it. I wish the book had a lot more rumination instead of the small narratives.
April 25, 2025
A quick and enjoyable spring read. Loved the themes of mindfulness! Not the most impressive prose I’ve ever read but you can tell the author really fucks with birds the long way. She’s not new to this — she’s true to this. Good for her!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review
December 30, 2025
This was a delight to read. It has given me the motivation to get outside of my head more often, appreciate this beautiful planet and continue to do what I can to care for it and, yes, make a point to watch birds more often. Highly recommended!
August 15, 2025
I felt deeply disturbed by her chapter about house sparrows. She boiled their eggs and tried to shoot them. That doesn’t seem like mindful behavior. I don’t care how invasive they are attacking them is bizarre and wrong. She refers to house sparrows as bullies yet acts as one.
August 11, 2025
4.25/5
i love learning about birds... really enjoyed the chapters about bluebirds, catbirds, sparrows, and woodcocks.
here's to more 'awe walks' in 2025 ~
i love learning about birds... really enjoyed the chapters about bluebirds, catbirds, sparrows, and woodcocks.
here's to more 'awe walks' in 2025 ~
February 18, 2025
I loved this gem of a book! The essays are inspiring and sweet. New birders and experienced birders will enjoy this varied collection. I’m delighted to have experienced birding through Lili’s eyes! Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.
August 24, 2025
Hmmm… I didn’t entirely hate it. There were things that I liked, and some things that I didn’t.
Starting off with what I liked:
1. Each chapter focuses on one species or time in the author’s life and how birding fits into it, which makes the book very easy to digest/get through.
2. I am sincerely happy that the author has found birds and appreciates them as much as she does. I appreciate the volunteer work she does and the effort she’s put in to write this book. Specifically, she brings up how birding helps her connect with other people and overcome any social awkwardness / limitations she’d face in other situations.
Now for what I didn’t like as much:
1. The writing style is excessive - every sentence felt like it went around your elbow to get to your thumb. To the point where you can get lost in all the nonsense trying to get to what she was trying to say.
2. Along the same lines, she uses literary devices like they’re going out of style. Not every bird, noise, feather, and feeling has to be compared to something else. And once she comes up with a comparison, she RUNS with it. Like a track star on the home stretch, leaping and bounding as fast as she can, like she’s going to win the Olympic gold medal, like she’s dreamt of this day all her life... etc. etc. For example (I tried to cut it down as much as I could):
[She’s on a hike in the New Mexico desert, and it’s quiet.] “Then, a sound. A break in the silence. A kazoo underwater?” [There’s a full paragraph describing listening for the noise again.] “I decide to creep toward the sound as covertly as I can, tiptoeing on the sandpaper gravel. Movement, rustle. And then I see the head of a bird, shaped like an Athenian helmet with a forward plume, bobbing over a small clump of brush. The bird warrior charges out, the helmet atop a plump ball of a body, and darts into another clump of brush. A second one soldiers forth in the same getup and scuttles out from one clump and into the other.A third, fourth, fifth, all clucking that soft underwater kazoo sound.
Now, their little helmets bob above a mess of hardy, hellish-looking flowers. The head on this bird is a stunning warrior mask, jet black from the tops of the eyes to the neck, encircled with a sharp white ring. The mask is fitted with a red-earth hood, a black curved crest dangling in front… [She goes on describing feather colors.] This is a little troop of Gambel’s quail, one of two species of quail that call this canyon home, according to my app.” (Page 48-49)
Ok, by all means, compare the Gambel’s quail’s head feathers to the plume on some Athenian helmets (I guess… I’ll try not to get distracted criticizing the inaccuracy and generalizations of that), but she drags that comparison out so much that the bird is now a warrior who charges around with its troop - it gets ridiculous.
3. Worse than that, her metaphors and anthropomorphizing of these birds go on to taint her impressions of them. To the point of such strong emotions, that she kills a house sparrow.
A house sparrow attacked the bluebird nest she had been monitoring. She recognizes: “It felt malicious and cruel, but a human hadn’t done it. Some animal had, and they don’t have malice; they don’t consciously do evil” (p.149). So how, in the same chapter, does she go on to say: “Before that summer… I was in a fairy tale. The sparrow played the part of the evil witch, presenting obstacles I needed to overcome to cross the threshold from innocence to knowingness”?? (p. 140-141)
Yes, they are an invasive species and will show aggressive behavior to native bird populations, but she admits she didn’t care about them or the problem as a whole until one dared to show up in her yard. (“The bluebird faces many threats and challenges, but the sparrow is enemy number one. I skipped past the sparrow stuff in the book because I didn’t have sparrows on my land.”p.143) She acts purely on her emotions, and this chapter made the rest of her points feel hollow to me.
She spots the sparrow, and “I tipped into the chasm between fight or flight… I went into fight. I ran top speed straight at him. He saw me running and flew. That running was an irrational move, ineffectual… Losing control again, I ran to the nest box and jerked the side panel up, hoping to scare him, which I did. He flew out fast. Inside, there was a nest: sloppy, messy, nothing like the elegant, neat bluebird nest. I yanked it out and threw it to the ground, slamming the door shut.” (p. 150)
The rest of the chapter consists of her trying to get rid of this sparrow in her yard - the whole time feeling the need to personally attack these birds (calling them “the bastard”, a “greedy child”, and “the Terminator”). Eventually, she asks a neighbor to shoot them, which he does - or he gets one but not the other - so is your problem really solved? Still, she feels bad for the bluebird pair: “I felt responsible for their lack of procreating. I had enticed them to nest by putting up that box and then had failed to protect their raison d'être: to make life.” (p.155) Cool, cool, so what were the house sparrows trying to do then?
She ends the book with “recognizing the life force in birds” She goes to the top of the Empire State Building to see birds migrating North.
“I watch birds stream toward the vanishing point on the horizon and am filled with ecstasy and desire and sorrow. Sometimes I don’t want to live, or I don’t know how to live, or don’t know why. These migrating birds don’t ask why. They’re moved by the force of life, and I’m moved by them. One can only recognize something if they know it already; ‘recognizing’ is knowing it again.
If I’m recognizing the life force in birds, then wouldn’t that mean…
‘Yes.’ Some interior part of me speaks with conviction to the rest of myself. ‘Don’t you see? You wouldn’t recognize this life force if you didn’t know it already, know it deep in your being. The birds are only reflecting back to you what you understand and hold within.” (p.189-190)
This is the same book right?
4. The unnecessary, self-serving details
The author, Lili Taylor, is apparently an actress. I’d never heard of her (that’s not to not put down her fame or achievements - I’m just not good with names and don’t tend to keep up to date with celebrities.) But, what does that have to do with birds? Exactly.
Her stories consistently include these completely unrelated details or go on tangents that seem to be included only to inflate her own ego. It’s like she feels the need to explain how famous and recognizable she is but also that she’s actually really down-to-earth and modest. And on top of that, apparently everyone else is completely ignorant of birds or birding except her.
For example, she’s trying to get to a volunteer event and has to ask around for directions. She asks where all the birders are, and the parking attendant must be dumber than a pile of rocks because he just goes, “Birders?” She says yes and explains a bit, and he directs her to the roof:
“‘Oh yes, yes, you go on through that door there, take the first elevator one floor up, and then there’s a second elevator, and someone will be there–should be there—to take you to the place. Hey, wait a minute. I know… I know…’
‘Yes, it’s movie and TV.’
‘I knew it! I love your stuff. You are good.’
‘Thank you my friend.’”
I follow his directions and make it to the rooftop. A big bouncer-looking guy is there, but he has no idea what I’m talking about (p. 89)
Once she finally makes it up there, you’d think you’re finally going to hear about the work she’s doing. But instead:
“‘Okay, I’m going to have…’ [an organizer for the event] turns to me. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Lili. Lili Taylor.’
She moves closer to my face, inspecting me.
‘Hey! I didn’t recognize you in the dark. I’m so glad you could make it! I’m Susan…’” (p.90)
Ok ‘Bond. James Bond.’ - I get that getting recognized might be an important part in her life, but what does anybody gain by her including these? The next page continues with another volunteer:
“‘I think I recognize you from the Prospect Park Bird Club. You’re friends with Tom Stephenson, right?’
‘Yes, I am. Hi.’
‘Hi.’” (p. 91)
I’d get it if she had brought up these examples to talk about how that makes her feel, or to compare how people recognizing her from movies and TV to when she’s recognized for being a birder? But for once, she doesn’t go into more detail. It’s just thrown in there without rhyme or reason. Maybe I’m speaking for myself here, but most people are going to be picking up this book to read about birds, not Lili Taylor.
Starting off with what I liked:
1. Each chapter focuses on one species or time in the author’s life and how birding fits into it, which makes the book very easy to digest/get through.
2. I am sincerely happy that the author has found birds and appreciates them as much as she does. I appreciate the volunteer work she does and the effort she’s put in to write this book. Specifically, she brings up how birding helps her connect with other people and overcome any social awkwardness / limitations she’d face in other situations.
Now for what I didn’t like as much:
1. The writing style is excessive - every sentence felt like it went around your elbow to get to your thumb. To the point where you can get lost in all the nonsense trying to get to what she was trying to say.
2. Along the same lines, she uses literary devices like they’re going out of style. Not every bird, noise, feather, and feeling has to be compared to something else. And once she comes up with a comparison, she RUNS with it. Like a track star on the home stretch, leaping and bounding as fast as she can, like she’s going to win the Olympic gold medal, like she’s dreamt of this day all her life... etc. etc. For example (I tried to cut it down as much as I could):
[She’s on a hike in the New Mexico desert, and it’s quiet.] “Then, a sound. A break in the silence. A kazoo underwater?” [There’s a full paragraph describing listening for the noise again.] “I decide to creep toward the sound as covertly as I can, tiptoeing on the sandpaper gravel. Movement, rustle. And then I see the head of a bird, shaped like an Athenian helmet with a forward plume, bobbing over a small clump of brush. The bird warrior charges out, the helmet atop a plump ball of a body, and darts into another clump of brush. A second one soldiers forth in the same getup and scuttles out from one clump and into the other.A third, fourth, fifth, all clucking that soft underwater kazoo sound.
Now, their little helmets bob above a mess of hardy, hellish-looking flowers. The head on this bird is a stunning warrior mask, jet black from the tops of the eyes to the neck, encircled with a sharp white ring. The mask is fitted with a red-earth hood, a black curved crest dangling in front… [She goes on describing feather colors.] This is a little troop of Gambel’s quail, one of two species of quail that call this canyon home, according to my app.” (Page 48-49)
Ok, by all means, compare the Gambel’s quail’s head feathers to the plume on some Athenian helmets (I guess… I’ll try not to get distracted criticizing the inaccuracy and generalizations of that), but she drags that comparison out so much that the bird is now a warrior who charges around with its troop - it gets ridiculous.
3. Worse than that, her metaphors and anthropomorphizing of these birds go on to taint her impressions of them. To the point of such strong emotions, that she kills a house sparrow.
A house sparrow attacked the bluebird nest she had been monitoring. She recognizes: “It felt malicious and cruel, but a human hadn’t done it. Some animal had, and they don’t have malice; they don’t consciously do evil” (p.149). So how, in the same chapter, does she go on to say: “Before that summer… I was in a fairy tale. The sparrow played the part of the evil witch, presenting obstacles I needed to overcome to cross the threshold from innocence to knowingness”?? (p. 140-141)
Yes, they are an invasive species and will show aggressive behavior to native bird populations, but she admits she didn’t care about them or the problem as a whole until one dared to show up in her yard. (“The bluebird faces many threats and challenges, but the sparrow is enemy number one. I skipped past the sparrow stuff in the book because I didn’t have sparrows on my land.”p.143) She acts purely on her emotions, and this chapter made the rest of her points feel hollow to me.
She spots the sparrow, and “I tipped into the chasm between fight or flight… I went into fight. I ran top speed straight at him. He saw me running and flew. That running was an irrational move, ineffectual… Losing control again, I ran to the nest box and jerked the side panel up, hoping to scare him, which I did. He flew out fast. Inside, there was a nest: sloppy, messy, nothing like the elegant, neat bluebird nest. I yanked it out and threw it to the ground, slamming the door shut.” (p. 150)
The rest of the chapter consists of her trying to get rid of this sparrow in her yard - the whole time feeling the need to personally attack these birds (calling them “the bastard”, a “greedy child”, and “the Terminator”). Eventually, she asks a neighbor to shoot them, which he does - or he gets one but not the other - so is your problem really solved? Still, she feels bad for the bluebird pair: “I felt responsible for their lack of procreating. I had enticed them to nest by putting up that box and then had failed to protect their raison d'être: to make life.” (p.155) Cool, cool, so what were the house sparrows trying to do then?
She ends the book with “recognizing the life force in birds” She goes to the top of the Empire State Building to see birds migrating North.
“I watch birds stream toward the vanishing point on the horizon and am filled with ecstasy and desire and sorrow. Sometimes I don’t want to live, or I don’t know how to live, or don’t know why. These migrating birds don’t ask why. They’re moved by the force of life, and I’m moved by them. One can only recognize something if they know it already; ‘recognizing’ is knowing it again.
If I’m recognizing the life force in birds, then wouldn’t that mean…
‘Yes.’ Some interior part of me speaks with conviction to the rest of myself. ‘Don’t you see? You wouldn’t recognize this life force if you didn’t know it already, know it deep in your being. The birds are only reflecting back to you what you understand and hold within.” (p.189-190)
This is the same book right?
4. The unnecessary, self-serving details
The author, Lili Taylor, is apparently an actress. I’d never heard of her (that’s not to not put down her fame or achievements - I’m just not good with names and don’t tend to keep up to date with celebrities.) But, what does that have to do with birds? Exactly.
Her stories consistently include these completely unrelated details or go on tangents that seem to be included only to inflate her own ego. It’s like she feels the need to explain how famous and recognizable she is but also that she’s actually really down-to-earth and modest. And on top of that, apparently everyone else is completely ignorant of birds or birding except her.
For example, she’s trying to get to a volunteer event and has to ask around for directions. She asks where all the birders are, and the parking attendant must be dumber than a pile of rocks because he just goes, “Birders?” She says yes and explains a bit, and he directs her to the roof:
“‘Oh yes, yes, you go on through that door there, take the first elevator one floor up, and then there’s a second elevator, and someone will be there–should be there—to take you to the place. Hey, wait a minute. I know… I know…’
‘Yes, it’s movie and TV.’
‘I knew it! I love your stuff. You are good.’
‘Thank you my friend.’”
I follow his directions and make it to the rooftop. A big bouncer-looking guy is there, but he has no idea what I’m talking about (p. 89)
Once she finally makes it up there, you’d think you’re finally going to hear about the work she’s doing. But instead:
“‘Okay, I’m going to have…’ [an organizer for the event] turns to me. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Lili. Lili Taylor.’
She moves closer to my face, inspecting me.
‘Hey! I didn’t recognize you in the dark. I’m so glad you could make it! I’m Susan…’” (p.90)
Ok ‘Bond. James Bond.’ - I get that getting recognized might be an important part in her life, but what does anybody gain by her including these? The next page continues with another volunteer:
“‘I think I recognize you from the Prospect Park Bird Club. You’re friends with Tom Stephenson, right?’
‘Yes, I am. Hi.’
‘Hi.’” (p. 91)
I’d get it if she had brought up these examples to talk about how that makes her feel, or to compare how people recognizing her from movies and TV to when she’s recognized for being a birder? But for once, she doesn’t go into more detail. It’s just thrown in there without rhyme or reason. Maybe I’m speaking for myself here, but most people are going to be picking up this book to read about birds, not Lili Taylor.
December 3, 2025
I loved this and it highkey has me interested in birding, but what is new? lol
This is perfect for those that don't really know much about birds or birding, but have an open mind (and maybe open heart to it), though I cannot speak on the experience of those who are already part of birding culture. I also really liked the memoir aspects of this, especially in how everything felt focused on the birds, but through Taylor's eyes. Overall a wonderful experience.
This is perfect for those that don't really know much about birds or birding, but have an open mind (and maybe open heart to it), though I cannot speak on the experience of those who are already part of birding culture. I also really liked the memoir aspects of this, especially in how everything felt focused on the birds, but through Taylor's eyes. Overall a wonderful experience.
May 12, 2025
Truly charming and delightful and so smart. Birders are a beautiful bunch!
April 21, 2025
This is an excellent look into the world of birding.
Lili Taylor deeply recounts her key birding moments in wonderous detail. She writes of her early birding experiences that any birder, novice to expert, can certainly relate to.
Lili takes us along with her on bird adventures from cities to wilderness, from New York parks to Nebraska. As someone that's not traveled to see specific birds yet, this was very educational and I'm looking forward to seeing Sand Hill Crane migrations in person.
Lily does a wonderful job of shining the light on areas of our regular daily lives that affect birds that we would never have thought of. From the 9/11 memorial to something as simple as a birdhouse, the author makes us look at ourselves while looking out for the birds. Some stories will break your heart while others will let your heart soar.
In the beginning, I do feel as if the stories get a little off the mark but eventually do come back to the birds and Lili's experiences. In the end, I was tearing up knowing I was saying goodbye to this heartfelt book. Godspeed.
Thank you Penguin Random House for the ARC. I will always share my honest opinion.
Lili Taylor deeply recounts her key birding moments in wonderous detail. She writes of her early birding experiences that any birder, novice to expert, can certainly relate to.
Lili takes us along with her on bird adventures from cities to wilderness, from New York parks to Nebraska. As someone that's not traveled to see specific birds yet, this was very educational and I'm looking forward to seeing Sand Hill Crane migrations in person.
Lily does a wonderful job of shining the light on areas of our regular daily lives that affect birds that we would never have thought of. From the 9/11 memorial to something as simple as a birdhouse, the author makes us look at ourselves while looking out for the birds. Some stories will break your heart while others will let your heart soar.
In the beginning, I do feel as if the stories get a little off the mark but eventually do come back to the birds and Lili's experiences. In the end, I was tearing up knowing I was saying goodbye to this heartfelt book. Godspeed.
Thank you Penguin Random House for the ARC. I will always share my honest opinion.
April 14, 2025
I am getting kind of addicted to reading books about birds, birding and conservation of birds. This definitely should be included with Amy Tan's Backyard Bird Chronicles on the subject of birding. Well written and researched, this book is more about differene experiences the author had and how birds related to what she was doing. I like how Taylor's experiences make each bird relevant and necessary to life on the planet for the human experience.
I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this at publishing for my collection of animal and birds book library at home. Highly recommended!
Thanks to Netgalley, Lili Taylor and Crown Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 4/29/25
I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this at publishing for my collection of animal and birds book library at home. Highly recommended!
Thanks to Netgalley, Lili Taylor and Crown Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 4/29/25
August 8, 2025
Lately, listening to birdsong calms me and reading this book calmed me, too. It’s part memoir, part informational text and combined, it’s a love letter to the beauty of birds and the role they can play in our lives and wellness. And while the book might explicitly be focused on birds, it’s about the power and beauty of noticing in general, something we all could be reminded of from time to time.
November 28, 2025
4.5 rounded down to a 4. Honestly, this is a powerfully written book, and was also the book that most strongly compelled me to get involved with volunteering for bird conservation myself. Lili effectively paints a picture of both threats to bird populations, as well as volunteer work aimed at counteracting said threats.
Personally, while it may have landed better for others, I found the connections to her job as an actor to be forced and uninteresting. We get it. You’re a famous actor. And you’ve found a way to cleverly integrate the philosophy of acting with that of birding. I’ll be the first to admit that I occasionally skipped paragraphs that went on too long about her acting. The parts about birds, birding, and volunteering, which were most parts, were plenty interesting and insightful, and, in my opinion, stood perfectly well on their own two feet. The tangents about her acting didn’t do anything to strengthen them. At least not for me. This is likely personal preference. I’m just here for the birds, man. And I learned a TON about birding and conservation volunteer work from Lili. So much so that I think I’m finally going to get involved myself. It was THAT inspiring. But I couldn’t round up to a 5 because I was annoyed on more than one occasion when she spent too much time talking about acting.
Overall, excellent, powerful, insightful book. And could be a 5/5 if you are more into the connections to acting philosophy.
Personally, while it may have landed better for others, I found the connections to her job as an actor to be forced and uninteresting. We get it. You’re a famous actor. And you’ve found a way to cleverly integrate the philosophy of acting with that of birding. I’ll be the first to admit that I occasionally skipped paragraphs that went on too long about her acting. The parts about birds, birding, and volunteering, which were most parts, were plenty interesting and insightful, and, in my opinion, stood perfectly well on their own two feet. The tangents about her acting didn’t do anything to strengthen them. At least not for me. This is likely personal preference. I’m just here for the birds, man. And I learned a TON about birding and conservation volunteer work from Lili. So much so that I think I’m finally going to get involved myself. It was THAT inspiring. But I couldn’t round up to a 5 because I was annoyed on more than one occasion when she spent too much time talking about acting.
Overall, excellent, powerful, insightful book. And could be a 5/5 if you are more into the connections to acting philosophy.
May 6, 2025
Lili Taylor feels like a kindred spirit.
Here are some lovely quotes I keep thinking about, and that I fully relate to:
“There is a universe in Bryant Park that I can tap into whenever I want. After rehearsal that day, as I approached the stairs to the subway, the park was no longer a green blur. I knew two things in that park now: the catbird, the viburnum. I descended the steps, about to be transported to another place, Brooklyn. As I waited for the train, standing directly underneath the park, maybe even under the catbird, I felt steady on the ground beneath me and aware of the ground above me.”
“All the green things around me now are somethings. I know I can stand anywhere among living things, connected to things that are connected to other things. I’m in a net holding me to the catbird, to the viburnum, the caterpillar, the butterfly, the sun.”
Here are some lovely quotes I keep thinking about, and that I fully relate to:
“There is a universe in Bryant Park that I can tap into whenever I want. After rehearsal that day, as I approached the stairs to the subway, the park was no longer a green blur. I knew two things in that park now: the catbird, the viburnum. I descended the steps, about to be transported to another place, Brooklyn. As I waited for the train, standing directly underneath the park, maybe even under the catbird, I felt steady on the ground beneath me and aware of the ground above me.”
“All the green things around me now are somethings. I know I can stand anywhere among living things, connected to things that are connected to other things. I’m in a net holding me to the catbird, to the viburnum, the caterpillar, the butterfly, the sun.”
July 4, 2025
I loved this book. Her journey as a birder is both lovely and inspiring.
July 17, 2025
4.5 stars - What a beautiful collections of essays. I would say these are all love letters to birds and birding/bird watching.
If you like birds, I definitely recommend this short read!
If you like birds, I definitely recommend this short read!
October 15, 2025
Sweet memoir that will appeal to beginning birders.
October 18, 2025
this book was a good friend, a warm hug, morning dew on the grass, lemonade in the summer. so so good. brb off to watch the birds
January 4, 2026
I am in to birding and found the book reasonably good; interesting facts on birds (we have sparrows nesting in it balcony in Mumbai and did not know they had a dark murderous side to them) and some useful tips for birding (soft look).
June 2, 2025
Just like birding itself, this book is full of quiet, reflective stories that will warm your heart if you are a bird lover like I am. And now I really want to invest in a pair of high-caliber binoculars. Ha ha
January 4, 2026
I read this book very quickly over a few days, learning something new about birds with each chapter. Equally interesting was the way in which experiences with the birds changed the author. When she was absorbed in quietly watching, she became peaceful and that peacefulness stayed with her.
June 30, 2025
Lili Taylor is absolutely charming. I listened to the audiobook and her narration is earnest and delightful. I really enjoyed this. A caveat though, even if you really really like birds this is an awful lot of information about birds. Not for everyone.
July 16, 2025
Spoiler Alert: Relaxing and informative about birding. I thought I loved it until…
Everything was great until she tries to cage a bird and wages war on a bird who gets purposely shot in order to save other bird , and then boils another bird couples nest eggs and replaces them in the nest without the birds noticing in order to save the birds . I wasn’t expecting that. :/ she explains everything methodically but still… doesn’t settle well with me. I wish she would have talked about why it was ok in her world to do that.
Everything was great until she tries to cage a bird and wages war on a bird who gets purposely shot in order to save other bird , and then boils another bird couples nest eggs and replaces them in the nest without the birds noticing in order to save the birds . I wasn’t expecting that. :/ she explains everything methodically but still… doesn’t settle well with me. I wish she would have talked about why it was ok in her world to do that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2025
Sometimes I don't want to live, or I don't know how to live, or don't know why. These migrating birds don't ask why. They're moved by the force of life, and I'm moved by them.
admittedly i did pick this up on a whim because it was on sale and outer range is my comfort show (lil taylor is fantastic in it). i didn't expect much—i'm still learning to love the art of the memoir—but from the first page this made me emotional. taylor writes with such a sharp and exacting style and her love for nature bursts through on every page. there's an issue with memoirs, i find, where they occasionally feel performative, and i'm not sure if it's just because her style really speaks to me and she's just good at dressing things up, but i never really felt that; this was honest, and sincere in its honesty, and i found her frankness about how little she knows about birding throughout the entire book to be so comforting.
so much of this is about her anxiety, and it's written in a way that really makes me feel seen. when first beginning her birding journey, lili describes how she felt awkward and out of place, and had to remind herself to slow down; that she could just be. just exist with the birds for a minute, that she didn't have to rush or move along; that she could just be alone. and that really spoke to me.
i've had a vague interest in birding for a couple of years now, but i've never really committed. i tend to look for birds on car rides, my attention mainly drawn to birds of prey; but i hope to take lili's advice to observe more closely, even the small things, and it's okay to just look: "I start counting them, and then wonder why I'm counting them. I tell myself it's important to know if the numbers vary day to day. Is it still around twenty? I tell myself that I'd just like to look at them and not have to count. I look up at a cloud. I try to see if I can identify and name it, but then I let it go because right now, I just need to look at a frigging cloud without lifting a finger. Just looking at the clouds for the sake of looking at the clouds is a kind of play. And I need to play." lili then defines what an "autoletic activity" is, and continues: "I didn't know that a word existed to described "experience for experience's safe." The concept of an autoletic activity liberates me from feeling there must be a result from an experience—something to show for it, something I can use someday." i think this is something we should all keep in mind, especially with the fast-paced world we live in. and it comforts me to know that i don't have to throw myself all-in on birding; i can just look, without needing to know their names, how to identify them. i can just see the birds.
i've already put three quotes in this review, but i can't help but end it on another: it encapsulates so much of my own feelings that it almost seems like i was looking into my own soul. i think a mark of a great writer is extending that to you; a way to accurately shape your own emotions into words. this is a quote, and overall, a book, that will stick with me for a long time.
I don't believe in heaven. I don't know what happens when we die, and I don't spend much time thinking about it. It overwhelms me. But when I think about being here, I realize I'm allowed entrance to this earth right now, even though I don't always feel like I belong. I'm alive. I'm here. I want to make the most of it. And I want to share my reports of this endless living world with my kindred spirits.
April 24, 2025
4.5 stars - I am a nature fanatic and a fan of nature writing. In the past year I have read introspective backyard bird-watching accounts by an award-winning author and backyard wildlife essays from a renowned essayist. As a backyard wildlife enthusiast myself, I get it. I get taking the time to observe, reflect on, and enjoy the activities of our avian friends because it allows us not only to understand the natural world, but our place in it as well. The pandemic was an especially conducive time for this, which is why these books are being released now and resonating with more people.
While I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles, especially the inclusion of her art and journal pages, and while I could relate to Margaret Renkl’s affinity for sharing space and compassion for our animal neighbors and visitors, neither provided as much useful information for fledgling birders and wildlife enthusiasts nor related their birding adventures to time periods and life events so vividly.
I can see actress Lili Taylor on set sitting in a desolate empty lot with a bird house trying to convince finches it’s a good alternative to the actor’s trailer they had originally pinpointed for nesting. I can see her sitting with binoculars in a schoolyard at night waiting for chimney swifts to funnel into their night lodgings. I felt her anger at murderous sparrows and cheered her sprint to the pier at Brooklyn Bridge Park to see a nocturnal woodcock. I made notes on the best binoculars, downloaded new apps, and began to picture adventures to see birds. Birds! I learned millions of birds migrate at night and they are right there over our heads in enormous flocks while we are binging the latest shows on television.
Turning to Bird: The Power and Beauty of Noticing was a beautiful and unapologetic glimpse into the life of a birder, that will surely draw many new birders into the past time armed with the lessons gleaned from Taylor’s experiences.
Thank you to Penguin Random House for the e-ARC of this book through NetGalley, which I received for my honest review. This book will be available to the public on April 29, 2025.
#TurningtoBirds #NetGalley #lilitaylor #books #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookstagram #nerdventureswithbooks
While I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles, especially the inclusion of her art and journal pages, and while I could relate to Margaret Renkl’s affinity for sharing space and compassion for our animal neighbors and visitors, neither provided as much useful information for fledgling birders and wildlife enthusiasts nor related their birding adventures to time periods and life events so vividly.
I can see actress Lili Taylor on set sitting in a desolate empty lot with a bird house trying to convince finches it’s a good alternative to the actor’s trailer they had originally pinpointed for nesting. I can see her sitting with binoculars in a schoolyard at night waiting for chimney swifts to funnel into their night lodgings. I felt her anger at murderous sparrows and cheered her sprint to the pier at Brooklyn Bridge Park to see a nocturnal woodcock. I made notes on the best binoculars, downloaded new apps, and began to picture adventures to see birds. Birds! I learned millions of birds migrate at night and they are right there over our heads in enormous flocks while we are binging the latest shows on television.
Turning to Bird: The Power and Beauty of Noticing was a beautiful and unapologetic glimpse into the life of a birder, that will surely draw many new birders into the past time armed with the lessons gleaned from Taylor’s experiences.
Thank you to Penguin Random House for the e-ARC of this book through NetGalley, which I received for my honest review. This book will be available to the public on April 29, 2025.
#TurningtoBirds #NetGalley #lilitaylor #books #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookstagram #nerdventureswithbooks
April 18, 2025
I want to firstly thank the publisher and NetGalley for a digital review copy/ARC of this title!
As a lover of birds, I was delighted when Lili Taylor's “Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing” was recommended to me on NetGalley. Part memoir, part love letter to birds, this book contains several moving essays detailing Taylor's experiences with birds and birders alike. I found Taylor's parallels between acting and birding very interesting, as well as found the ways in which she connects with birds and nature absolutely refreshing. I also noted down several locations she mentioned in the book that I'd like to visit myself (as well as learned about a birding festival - who knew!).
From experiencing the majesty of thousands of Sandhill Cranes, the exaltation (and oddness) of the American Woodcock, and the beauty of Cedar Waxwings (just to name a few birds featured in the essays), this book is a short and accessible read for anyone who loves birds or who generally enjoys immersing themselves in nature. If you enjoy this book, I would also highly recommend “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” by Amy Tan!
3.5/5 stars
As a lover of birds, I was delighted when Lili Taylor's “Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing” was recommended to me on NetGalley. Part memoir, part love letter to birds, this book contains several moving essays detailing Taylor's experiences with birds and birders alike. I found Taylor's parallels between acting and birding very interesting, as well as found the ways in which she connects with birds and nature absolutely refreshing. I also noted down several locations she mentioned in the book that I'd like to visit myself (as well as learned about a birding festival - who knew!).
From experiencing the majesty of thousands of Sandhill Cranes, the exaltation (and oddness) of the American Woodcock, and the beauty of Cedar Waxwings (just to name a few birds featured in the essays), this book is a short and accessible read for anyone who loves birds or who generally enjoys immersing themselves in nature. If you enjoy this book, I would also highly recommend “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” by Amy Tan!
3.5/5 stars
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December 27, 2025My expectations may have been rather low for this one, as “actor writes about birds” could have been a recipe for disaster, but I was pleasantly surprised. Taylor is a very convincing advocate for amateur birding. And I say that as someone who spent a decade working for the Lab of Ornithology. While I was familiar with much of the birding lingo, even I learned a few things, such as the various stages of twilight. I also gained a good quotation (“No contempt prior to investigation”) and a new book recommendation (“Bringing Nature Home”). A strong storyteller, Taylor addresses the various emotional and intellectual benefits of birding, specifically listening, intently watching, and interacting with one’s environment. I think the best chapter is probably the one on chimney swifts. It’s moving and bittersweet. The Sandhill Crane chapter ended somewhat suddenly and could have been longer. Overall, it made me appreciate my own ties to ornithology. I will never be a birder, despite my appreciation, and I realise I should have learned sound and visual identification more closely while at the Lab of O.
August 19, 2025
“All the green things around me are now somethings. I know I can stand anywhere among living things, connected to things that are connected to other things. I’m in a net holding me to the catbird, to the viburnum, the caterpillar, the butterfly, the sun.”
I really enjoyed these bird essays by Lili Taylor that elucidate how she came to discover a joy of birds and eventually became a full blown birder. I like how she tied her bird watching to her acting: both use the art of observation, listening, and being present.
Her enthusiasm for birds is palpable and I related to many of her feelings about being a birder: the connection to the natural world, the comfort of birding the same “patch” over and over again, the protectiveness that turns you into a conservationist, the wonder and awe that seeing a new to you bird can bring.
I’d love to go birding with her.
“If I focus on them, I am lifted, momentarily, out of the little mental ruts and confusions. I enter the zone where I don’t think; I’m held by them, captivated by their existence. Eyes filled with salt drops, mouth agape, euphoric.”
I really enjoyed these bird essays by Lili Taylor that elucidate how she came to discover a joy of birds and eventually became a full blown birder. I like how she tied her bird watching to her acting: both use the art of observation, listening, and being present.
Her enthusiasm for birds is palpable and I related to many of her feelings about being a birder: the connection to the natural world, the comfort of birding the same “patch” over and over again, the protectiveness that turns you into a conservationist, the wonder and awe that seeing a new to you bird can bring.
I’d love to go birding with her.
“If I focus on them, I am lifted, momentarily, out of the little mental ruts and confusions. I enter the zone where I don’t think; I’m held by them, captivated by their existence. Eyes filled with salt drops, mouth agape, euphoric.”
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