Birding for Life
Coming Soon!
Humorous, compelling, and insightful, these pages are a guide to living a life that is good for oneself and the planet by immersing oneself in the world of birds. LoraKim draws on experiences and knowledge from a lifetime of working with birds as a conservationist to summarize this book in a provocative way:
“If you are reading this book, shut the cover and go out and be with birds. If you still persist, I warned you. The beauty is in more than in words, but in birds.”
About the Cover: The cover was designed by renowned artist Rebecca Guenter at Near Bird Studios. It depicts a black vulture and a crested caracara, an example of an unusual cross-species behavior that occurs in the wild between these two species.. Birder, photographer Lora Reynolds captured this exciting behavior in February 2023 in Phil Hardberger Park in San Antonio, Texas. Interspecific allopreening is rare and may serve to remove parasites, reduce aggression, reinforce associations, and bond socially. On the back cover is a flock of yellow-naped parrots flying over the valley’s and mountains.
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Preview of Prion: A Dramatic Reading of the Prologue
Discussion Questions
1. What moment in the book was most joyous? Most challenging? Most depressing? Evoked the strongest feelings?
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2. Which character was your favorite? What characters are most like you or people you know, and which are the most dissimilar?
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3. Did you find yourself having enemy images of certain groups of people or species within the book, or within real life?
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4. Is there an overall moral or ethical concept in the book?
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5. Did the book reinforce or challenge any of your moral or ethical principles, or your behavior?
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6. What moral or ethical guidance in particular resonates with you, and which ones do not?
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7. How do you resonate, or not, with keeping wildlife in captivity or trading them for human use?
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8. If you were to go to an Unconditional Solidarity Movement event like they did during the Australian conference, which groups of animals, people, or biomes would attract you?
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9. What does unconditional solidarity look like to you?
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10. What vow or promise have you made or would you like to make on behalf of other beings?
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11. If you were to become a Lapatista, how would it change your life?
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12. What thoughts and feelings came up referring to the Covid-19 pandemic and possible future ones?
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13. What did you learn about parrot intelligence and behavior? Though the author cannot speak for a parrot and the book is a fable,
characteristics of parrots were portrayed: their high intelligence, ability to problem solve, communication that has words and syntaxis, existence of families, naming of children, and a range of complex social reactions, behaviors, and feelings.
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14. In writing the book the author wasn’t sure how it was going to end and whether humans, humans, parrots, or both would survive. How would you change the ending and why?
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15. What questions does the book leave you with? What might you ask of the authors? (info@oneearthconservation.org).