Ornithology and Activism Go Hand-in-Hand in “Birding to Change the World” https://ift.tt/2gtLfp0
For readers who have barely noticed the crimson cardinal in the tree out your kitchen window, the idea that birding could be intense will seem shocking. For birders who have only just picked up a field guide or only recently lifted the binoculars to your eyes, the idea that birdwatching could lead to knocking on neighborhood doors, heated city council meetings, or mucking about a lake post-July 4th fireworks will seem absolutely outrageous. Trish O’Kane’s Birding to Change the World is an engaging and eye-opening memoir of one woman’s commitment to her community and the natural world.
O’Kane, a journalist who spent the early part of her career writing about human rights violations in the American South and Central America, finds herself having lost everything in the storm wreckage of Hurricane Katrina. While mourning the destruction of her home, city, and life as she knew it, she is also witnessing her father’s death from cancer, and she finds solace in a habit her father enjoys – watching the birds. Before she knows it, she has moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to pursue a Ph.D., enrolls in an ornithology class, and her identity as birder, environmental activist, and social justice warrior takes shape.
Upon moving to Madison, O’Kane immediately falls in love with Warner Park, a local city oasis where she spends hours observing flora and fauna as well as reflecting and relaxing. She’s entranced by the catbirds, phoebes, great horned owls, and flycatchers, among other avian species. Like the birds, she finds her own favorite perch atop the sled hill, where she spends hours. Warner Park becomes her balm from the trauma of Katrina.
As much as O’Kane loves birds and nature, she loves the people who love birds and nature. She sees her own joys reflected in others whom she meets while birding. She lovingly portrays Jan, a septuagenarian retired feed-mill worker who knew more about the animal life than most formally trained biologists; Sandy, who spends four hours a day in the park, finding strength to heal after a life of difficult circumstances; Golden Helmet Man, who wears a football helmet rain or shine; and many children who come through her education program. O’Kane deftly weaves research on the importance of time spent outdoors with her descriptions of human life at Warner Park, making this book so much more than just one woman’s perspective and journey.
She joins a group of local activists when the city plans to “improve” Warner Park. O’Kane reminds us that modernizing comes at a cost, not just for plants and animals but for people too. To pave over a meadow for a parking lot may bring more people to the park for ball games, but it deprives children of their wild spaces and adults of their daily rambles. Many of the families who live close to Warner Park do not have the transportation, time, or means to travel outside of the city to experience nature, and Warner Park provides them with exposure to trees, plants, and all manner of fauna. O’Kane’s organizing and collaboration save the wild elements of Warner Park and birth Wild Warner, a group of like-minded citizens who are willing to fight to keep the park and its residents safe from the concrete sprawl of the city.
O’Kane’s efforts to save the Canadian geese of Warner Park from the brutal fate of a “round up” reveals the tension between humans and animals and how our curation of the world around us is often at odds with our own desires. We want finely manicured grasses, but we don’t want goose poop. It doesn’t occur to us that mowing the grassy areas of our parks is creating a salad buffet that brings all of the geese coming back for more. O’Kane writes with verve about the dogged determination of the Wild Warner warriors who lobby the city commissioners to save the geese from slaughter. She doesn’t oversimplify what it means to balance the needs of people and animals, and she celebrates the solutions that make life tolerable for animals and the people who enjoy the park.
There’s an intensity to Birding to Change the World that will surprise readers who sought out the title as an avian reverie. Trish O’Kane is a woman with a cause – whether it’s to track the flight of migrating birds, organize and lead an after-school program for middle school kids, or interrogate the use of fireworks that pollute Warner Park Lake. Her book is at once a natural history, a call for social change, and a memoir about repairing the world.
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