Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard

by Joan E. Strassmann

"Many birders travel far and wide to popular birding destinations to catch sight of rare or "exotic" birds. In Slow Birding, evolutionary biologist Joan E. Strassmann introduces readers to the joys of birding right where they are. In this inspiring guide to the art of slow birding, Strassmann tells colorful stories of the most common birds to be found in the United States-birds we often see but might not have considered deeply before"--

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Birds, Science, Animals, Natural History, Environment

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2022

Reviews

[Nostalgia Reader]

I love the premise of this book--birding should not have to involve travelling and adding to your lists, it should consist just as much of birding that happens in a small, local, stationary area, getting to know your local birds and appreciating their routines. However, the writing style was very bland and much of it was just summarizing academic papers. Interesting, yes, but very dry and I just wasn't enthused to keep reading, despite having learned some stuff already. Maybe I'll give this a shot again in the future when I'm in the mood for something more sciencey.

[Arsh Mohite · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would be lying if I said this book didn’t accomplish exactly what it set out to do. I learned so many cool and interesting facts about the birds I might see in my own backyard and I feel better for it. My only gripe is that the book took me forever to read. Eventually many of the chapters fell into the same architecture where I learned whether or not the birds are monogamous (spoiler alert, they are mostly not), and the repeating nature of this was kinda boring. But as someone who has a steadily been growing an appreciation for birds, I liked this book.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strassman uses some common backyard (or backyard adjacent) birds from her St. Louis area home to explore the practice of "slow birding." But this, she means rather than looking at birding as listing as many species as possible, taking the time to really observe the species nearby, and using them to learn more about birds in general.

Each chapter focuses on a species. After introducing her personal connection to this particular bird, she looks at interesting research about the species, and then follows up with some tips on how to watch them -- noting their feeding, mating, singing and migration behaviors.

I've already taken some of this to heart, trying to appreciate what I thought were the more familiar birds around me. At noon today while eating my lunch outside at work, I heard an insistent chipping sound coming from under the eaves of the balcony outside my workplace, answered by another chipping in a nearby tree that is just beginning to leaf out. As I backed away to a safe distance, I saw a male House Finch fly in to meet its mate in a nest in the eaves, both of them chittering away in greeting. Perhaps she's already sitting on a clutch of eggs? I know I'll be watching and listening in the next few weeks to find out!

[Bobbi Geosling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite the journey. I learned so much and grew in my appreciation for slow birding and those who conduct research on the types of birds I see on a daily basis. This book was very dense, however, and read more like an academic literature review. Each chapter has a few pages at the end with practical tips and things to observe about that chapter’s bird and these were my favorites parts. Otherwise it was a tough book to get through unless you enjoy reading academic articles and already have a good basic knowledge of the specific birds she covers. I have high respect for the author and those she cites, but it was not quite what I was expecting. Perhaps that’s just because I’m still a novice birder myself :)

[Abigail Hartman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hoped I'd like this, but it was a disappointment. The writing was uneven and choppy, with poor transitions between sentences and paragraphs; it skipped around in an overly conversational style, and the tone to me was somewhere between saccharine and patronizing. While I very much like birds, most of the information on individual species was stuff I frankly didn't care about (which surprised me).

Many of the scientific studies struck me as pedantic. Okay, I study history, who am I to talk? But it just seems like if you are going to be as invasive as some of these biologists have to be to get their results, then you should have a greater goal than "I wanna know." (Example: I read a book about Blakiston's fish owls in which the author describes his time studying them by putting trackers on them, but the point was to aid in conservation of their habitats, not to satisfy somebody's curiosity.) One study cited in SLOW BIRDING involved tricking blue jays into eating (toxic) monarch caterpillars simply to see at what point young blue jays learn not to eat said caterpillars (!). The study made the birds sick; she doesn't say whether any died.

Other studies didn't appear to be harmful to the birds, but many of them didn't hold my interest, either. This is a personal preference; I really thought I'd like this kind of thing, but I seem to prefer large-scale behavioral topics, like migration...or maybe I'm just not enough of a "slow birder" to get invested in watching/counting/analyzing the birds I see every day. While I don't rush around chasing rarities, I have to admit I prefer the thrill of seeing something unusual to considering how many mates a house wren has or how white-throated sparrows settle their pecking order.

Finally, another reviewer pointed out how weird it felt that the book ends with a grim chapter on snow geese, and I have to agree. Why even have a section on snow geese in this particular type of book? The author, who wrote this book in 2020-21, seemed to be trying to make a connection between snow geese cholera and Covid-19 that made me roll my eyes. Apparently we can't even enjoy a light book about the natural world without being warned in the closing pages to imagine ruination and despair. On top of that, while I understand that snow geese overpopulation is a big habitat problem and therefore I don't have a problem with people hunting them, why end your book about "enjoying the birds in your own backyard" with a recommendation to hunt snow geese?

So: some mildly interesting information here, but not what I hoped it would be.

[cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this. A whole book about deeply observing the birds around you instead of seeking out a constant stream of new birds to identify and 'claim' for your life list. I love doing both and my backyard observations have taught me SO MUCH about the world of birds, especially some of my most common visitors like black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, woodpeckers of many sorts, cardinal, robins, blue jays, finches, wrens, nuthatches, crows, starlings, grackles, and more. Her book was like a love letter to noticing more in depth what the birds are doing around you. It reminds me of one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, Messenger, from her collection Thirst.

"My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird -
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
..."

[Dan DeBaun · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - I LOVE birds and feeding them in my yard but this was just a slow slog of recapping dozens of scientific studies about common backyard birds. You’ll probably like this if you want to go in-depth, but I found myself very bored.

Slow Birding…more like SLOW READING!

[Ann Cwik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish there was less scientific data and more narrative description. Heavy on the science.

[Mark Fajet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birds are incredible. The book was hard to read in a continuous manner as it was perhaps too many facts. Slow reading Slow Birding was an enjoyable experience. The book shows off the importance and value of slowing down and paying attention and what we can learn from careful research and observation.

[Sylvia Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book invites you to get to know the birds you can see and hear right around you, in your yard, the park close by, on your walks, everywhere. It invites you to see, really see, your feathered neighbors. The author "tells all" about some of the most common birds, the ones you'll encounter everyday. Fun and a lovely invitation.

[Kathryn Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I assumed this would be an introduction to the hobby of birding but it was more a collection of in-depth portraits on various bird species and areas around missouri (I wanna go to missouri now.) I loved all the science in the book and I learned a lot about things like brood parasitism and other bird behaviors I wasn’t as familiar with

my favorite chapter was the white-throated sparrows. I thought the discoveries about the “four sexes” was awesome. it makes me wonder why more people aren’t talking about it!

[Charmaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the info is very interesting, like how robins find worms. But much of the book describes bizarre experiments that wildlife biologists are interested in. Like figuring out how many females the males mate with. Would not recommend buying this book

[Kristin Rounds · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! In addition to watching, it talks about animal behavior, genetics, ecology...all topics that fascinate me.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been birding for a couple years now and more seriously in the last year or so. What I love about birding is being present in nature using senses to detect and identify birds. It’s mentally rigorous but also soothing. Observing motion, sound, color, behavior, location helps to identify birds which changes by the context of the weather and local conditions. I like being present trying to observe birds because it takes me out of my head.

I don’t love the idea of chasing rarities as that seems too competitive, so the idea of Slow Birding interested me. I thought this would be more of a meditative read, but it was more science based. Each chapter focuses on a different bird and an aspect of its behavior. I enjoyed listening to the interesting facts for each bird. This book has so much information about many common birds that can be seen in most of the United States. Each chapter ends with some activities to observe each verb.

The audio performance was good as it was read by the author. I though the writing was interesting and compelling. I wanted something a little more about slow birding and meditative practices, but it was a great book for beginning birders in North America.▪️

[Isabella Leake · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book, the idea that there is much birdwatching one can do locally, in our very backyards, if we only slow down and spend lots of time watching.

And the author does give some excellent examples and strategies of how to do exactly that. Unfortunately, the majority of the book wasn't about amateur birding or nature study at all but about experiments conducted upon birds. I thought I was going to be reading about bird behavior in their natural habitat, but instead it was detailed (and, I will admit, lively) discussions of scientists studying birds in labs, or drawing blood to perform paternity tests, or swapping nestlings between nests to see if the parents noticed.

I'm sure there's a place for all of that—and I did find the ingenuity of the experiments mildly exciting—but it's not something that will enhance my delight or deepen my understanding of what I'm seeing in my backyard. I really don't want to think about blue jays in a lab when I'm out watching them in nature. So in a rare turn of events, I decided not to read beyond three chapters, when it appeared they would all follow the same pattern.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tagline is “The Art and Science of Enjoying theBirds in Your Own Backyard” so I assumed that was the basic point of the book. There is some of that there, she goes through 16 common birds in her native St Louis and talks about observing them. Most of those birds are also common where I live near Boston. But nearly half of the book describes scientific observations and experiments on birds. Illuminating, but not as well-written as one might hope for, and sometimes detailed to the point of tedium.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a book that breaks down science into digestible stories. And that’s exactly what this book does with your favorite feeder visitors. Highly recommend if you like science and birds.

[Jerry Hillyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife and I have become serious birders over the past three years after many years of being backyard birders. We have no problem taking an entire day, our binoculars, journals, and chairs and sitting in a park or by a river or in the woods listening for, watching, and learning to identify birds and observing their behavior. It is a quite intoxicating and peaceful way to spend a day. This book was helpful because it put a different spin on the birds we see everyday, the non-exotic, so-called plain birds. I have always had an affection for the robins and starlings and sparrows, but now I think even more so.

This book is chock full of great information and anecdotes. I think sometimes the author's syntax was a bit strange and, frankly, I wouldn't be able to sit through her lectures because although she really likes 'citizen scientists' there's clearly a gap, a wide gap, between us citizens and the professionals in the community of the biological intelligentsia. That is, she is a bit condescending.

I would have appreciated more anecdotes from her personal experience with these birds of which she writes. I did not appreciate that she felt compelled to define 'egg dumping' in just about every chapter as if we hadn't read about it in the previous one. (I hate it when authors keep defining the same words over and over and over.) I think science relies far too much on DNA to learn. Too much of what she writes about is simply inaccessible to us citizen scientists because we do not have DNA sequencing labs in our basements. And, finally, I read a lot of books about birds, as many as I can get my hands on, and I'm always sad to read about how 'science' has (had) to kill, manipulate, and bring harm to animals in order to learn about them. At any point in history this is cruel and wrong.

All in all, I liked the book. I'm glad to know that even professionals use things like Merlin and Ebird to get it right. This makes me a little less insecure about my own sciencing. Nevertheless this book has solidified my love and curiosity about my backyard companions-those noisy tweeters that wake me before the dawn.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

With "Slow Birding," biologist Joan Strassman offers a call to study and savor deeply the birds that share the space we live in.

Strassman's local habitat is St. Louis, which encompasses her backyard, nearby parks and forests, and the swampy, marshy habitats of the Mississippi drainage basin. She breaks the book into sections exploring these habitats, introducing us to a range of species that lives in each, from blue jays to great egrets.

Each section follows a similar pattern. She shares her personal observations, using them as a launching point for a deeper discussion of each species' biology. She typically summarizes a long-term research project for each bird, sharing, for instance, how white-throated sparrows have, metaphorically, four sexes or how American robins philander to increase the number of offspring they leave behind.

I found Strassmann's stories fascinating. I enjoyed the deeper dive into the science of each species, both for the behavioral diversity they revealed as well as the fanaticism of the scientists who studied them. (Spending 24 hours straight in a bird blind? Not for me!)

More than anything, Strassman's passion for birds is clear, and she does an excellent job packaging it in such a way as to inspire the reader. I'm not likely to take a sketchbook outside or spend time mapping birds as they hop about my yard. But I have gained a new appreciation for my near avian neighbors after reading her book.

Quotes

"Starlings are our birds. We brought them here, and our mangling of the environment causes them to thrive. The least we can do is try to understand them. Removing them is impossible at this point. And remember, they do less damage to native birds than we do with habitat destruction."

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got into casual birding not because I want to see the maximum amount of species I possibly can in my lifetime, but honestly because I grew up as an air force brat, and I've now been living in the same neighborhood for 15 years, and the ability to watch a place's patterns and changes is kind of a new thing for me. I've developed a bit of an obsession with going to the same squares of nature in my city and seeing how it changes from season to season - tadpoles in vernal puddles, bluebells near the river, etc, like my own personal Sand County Almanac, I guess, but far more casual. I eventually clued in to there being different birds showing up different times of years, but I didn't really have any idea what they were, so I got a little curious (thanks, Merlin Bird, for pointing me in the right direction!).

I stumbled across this book in the library catalog, and it seemed made for me - I'm far more interested in learning about the birds I see every day than learning about rare species in Fiji or wherever. It did offer that to me (although I'll never see those gorgeous but siblicidal great egrets in the river near my house in the same way!), but what fascinated me even more was learning about how scientists know what they know about animals. A chemist can just set up in their lab and set their hours, but how exactly do you set up experiments with wild critters? I gained a deep appreciation of the strong dedication and experimental creativity of wildlife scientists. It was also fascinating to see Strassman use birds as a lens to understand larger cultural and scientific debates in North America, as well as ourselves. I had a great time reading this one.

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to St. Louis for the first time ever a couple weeks ago and got an autographed copy of a wonderful book by St. Louis author Joan Strassman, a professor at 1853-founded (!) St. Louis-based Washington University from Left Bank Books. What’s the thesis? “If you tie in the biological stories that go with the birds, they will be much more rewarding to watch.” Amen! She splits the book into chapters focusing on 'backyard birds' — Blue Jay, European Starling, Cooper's Hawk, etc. — and then goes wonderfully and meditatively deep on each one, taking us through important research that have helped us learn about their behavior (Cooper’s Hawks in BC have bigger feet than in the Midwest because in BC their diet is mostly caught in mid-air whereas in the Midwest it's more off-the-ground), showing how the birds fit into our culture (“Did blue as a color of law enforcement first come from Blue Jays?”), and then giving us tips to become better ‘slow birders’ for each species (like how to use feather color to guess the age of Starlings). A book to deepen the love of backyard birds and to perhaps help take J. Drew Lanham’s advice to us to wean ourselves off compulsive listing.

[Caroline Etherton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, although it’s definitely not for everyone. There is a lot of discussion/summarization of scientific papers and studies, so it definitely requires some focus and time to process. I personally think it was a cool way to present the concept of slow birding, and I especially loved the lists at the end of each chapter! I definitely came away with a greater appreciation for our backyard birds :’)

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of "slow birding" -- enjoying the birds in your own backyard -- is awesome! It's great to encourage birders to focus on appreciating everyday birds rather than rushing around the globe to check off species without really getting to know them. This book veers weirdly off course by spending a lot of time discussing experiments done on different species. Weirder still is the last chapter about Snow Geese, where the author talks about eating geese in Berlin and, in the last paragraph of the book, encourages readers to hunt and eat snow geese. What a bizarre way to end a book about enjoying backyard birds.

[Lauren Murzyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a year but I loved reading this slowly - taking my time with this book to understand and practice. Since we just bought a house, I’m so excited to apply what I’ve learned and “slow bird” in my own backyard! I loved this little book and her short stories sprinkled throughout. I’m going to keep this on my coffee table and refer to it often ☺️

[Frank Lodato · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a learned a lot about birding from this marvelous book. I read it while sitting at our recently installed bay window facing our backyard with several bird feeders standing in it.
I look forward to applying my new found knowledge of birding for many seasons to come!

[Skylar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will start by saying I am DEFINITELY the target audience for this and I loved it!!! but with that being said this is so dense with scientific info that u wouldn't reccommend it to the casual bird nerd

[Joanne Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores “birding” in our own backyard. The author combines great storytelling with science and key takeaways about each highlighted bird. I would highly recommend this book to bird lovers.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a bit of a slow birder myself. I do a lot of watching in my neighborhood and yard. I loved the chapter on Home to start the book.
The intro and the author’s note were basically repeats of each other, not sure why both were included.
It is very focused on the area the author lives in, as well as the explanation of places. But I could relate the blue jays to our stellars jays and we have many of the same birds.
Unlike other reviewers, I loved the easy way the author detailed studies relating to the featured birds. Maybe they would have benefited from the audiobook. It felt very conversational to me.

[Laura Muessig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather heavy on scientific detail for a popular book, but nice format and especially nice premise.

[Dad · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book for someone who is developing an interest in birds. Filled with practical insights and suggestions, I’ve listened to it twice since my child gave it to me for Christmas. Makes me appreciate Forrest Park and St Louis even more!