Have a book-loving bird nerd or a curious nature-lover on your gift list? STARLINGS is 50% off right now. Just sayin’. (Coupon code is 6HLW25 when you check out.)
#Books #Birds #Birdwatching #Naturewriting
www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bison-books/...
Bonus points for stories that can pinpoint the exact moment (a decision, a dam, a quirk of history, etc.) that sealed its fate.
And maybe we can do better by those wild things that are still here...
I've got a long list of animals and plants that have vanished over the past 150 years or so that I'm working thru ... usual suspects like the passenger pigeon, heath hen, eastern puma and sea mink. I'd love to hear about more obscure species or those with a particularly poignant or interesting tale
That’s one of the last Tacoma pocket gophers ever to exist on Earth. I’m working on a new book about extinct species in America, telling the stories of who they were and why they disappeared. Do you have a fascinating (modern) extinction that I should look into?
#wildlife #extinction #books
Thank you, Rob! It was a ton of fun. (Except for the hard parts, which were hard...)
From the roundup: “Balanced and reflective, Starlings calls on readers to challenge their prejudices and misconceptions of one noisy three-ounce blackbird, a vital step in our own journey to recast the meaning of belonging on a chaotic and increasingly violent Earth.”
Well, sheesh. My book on starlings (surprising title: Starlings) is among the 2025 favorites from the Washington Independent Review of Books @wirobooks.bsky.social.
#Books #Birds #Naturewriting #Birdwatching
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/our...
Glad to have such a thoughtful review of Starlings in the American Ornithological Society (@amornith.bsky.social) journal Ornithological Applications. #books #ornithology #naturewriting #birdwatching
"This is a book for anyone willing to spend a little time considering a species that birders and non-birders alike have conditioned themselves to ignore, and the tenderness with which Stark narrates both their faults and their ruggedness deserves praise." #Birds
academic.oup.com/condor/advan...
…from the good folks in the environmental wing of H-Net Reviews, @hnetreviews.bsky.social
I'd never grouse about being compared to a cloud of starlings:
“Starlings is both highly readable and deeply entertaining, tracing how starlings went from a solution to a problem. Stark’s book dips and weaves like a starling murmuration...”
#Birds #Naturewriting
networks.h-net.org/group/review...
Honored to have my book on starlings included in Nautilus (@nautil.us ) magazine’s top 10 books of the summer for curious minds…maybe these pesky birds aren’t so bad after all.
#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
www.instagram.com/reel/DMDUD7k...
And while you're there, you can read an interview with me about all manner of things, including what we think about birds, what birds might think of us, extinction, art, bears, writing, reading and, of course, starlings.
www.orangeblossomordinary.com/interviews/i...
Thx to Orange Blossom Ordinary for an insightful discussion of my book about starlings and our complicated relationship with the wild things around us. Find it here:
www.orangeblossomordinary.com/reviews/look...
#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
3 things I learned while writing Starlings (thanks to @nautil.us mag for the chance to explore):
1. Nature has a way of delivering unintended consequences.
2. Outsmarting these birds is harder than you think.
3. Histories are complicated – and never finished.
Read more
nautil.us/the-most-cha...
The consensus amongst ornithologists, bird-watchers, farmers, etc., is that starlings rank somewhere between a low-grade pest and a waking nightmare. Author Mike Stark asks, how do we decide whether a species is a worthy one, deserving of our protection and admiration? 🧪
Kind words re: my book from the president of the Rachel Carson Council: “Starlings is at once one of the most entertaining, readable, and profound bird books I have ever read.”
#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
Read the whole review:
rachelcarsoncouncil.org/mike-stark-s...
Yep, indeed. There were other introductions but the ones in Central Park, by a guy named Eugene Schieffelin in the late 1800s, were the ones that stuck. I take a deep dive into that strange history in the book.
Starlings reviewed in the Wall Street Journal: “This compelling book hits its stride with a ghastly chronicle of every tactic humans have employed in the battle against massive flocks and hopeless odds…”
#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Pleased to have the good folks at @nautil.us running an excerpt from Starlings. #Birds #Books #NatureWriting
"Have these winged wonders finally earned acceptance?" www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/s... @univnebpress.bsky.social #booksky
When bird brains collide: I had fun chatting about Starlings with Hannah over at the Bird Nerd Book Club podcast.
#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
www.buzzsprout.com/2118082/epis...
Cover of "Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird"
"This combination of human and natural history is a captivating read," writes Nancy Bent for @ala-booklist.bsky.social of STARLINGS by @mike-stark.bsky.social.
Get your copy: bit.ly/4i7B7OS
If you're one of about 140,000 book-lovers going to the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend, on Saturday I'll be on a panel about writing and wildlife at 10 am and signing books at 1 pm Stop by if you're starling-curious, starling-furious or love birds.
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org?action=displ...
Thanks to Arizona Spotlight and azpm.bsky.social for having me on to talk about Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird ... my interview starts around 18:00
#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
news.azpm.org/p/news-topic...
“Particularly in winter ... the starling ... added [a] bit of life in the landscape and a note of joy in the bleakness.” – Ornithologist Frank Chapman, 1907
@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Birdnerd #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
“The starling, by all accounts, is the orneriest, cussedest and in every way the most disagreeable and destructive bird known to man.” – San Bernardino Sun, 1960
@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Birdnerd #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
I need to check that out. Thx for the head's up!
“The starling is a sphinx-like bird and ordinarily treats other birds with a sort of contemptuous tolerance.” – Ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush, 1916
@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
“You can hear the noise of all the wings beating. At times they appeared like a swarm of bees, other times like a truly massive swirling cloud...like colliding galaxies…” – Starling murmuration witness, 2019
@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
