Lower Lake >> What makes birders get up early to walk through the woods or tromp through wet fields? Why do some people drive 100 miles to catch a glimpse of a rare species? Why do they keep the feeder full?
The speaker at the Redbud Audubon Society’s monthly meeting on Jan. 21 will be David Rice, who will answer these questions with his book “Why We Bird.”
Published in 2013 by Golden Gate Audubon, the book organizes a lifetime of birding experiences into insightful short essays on the allure and attraction of birding.
There are as many reasons to bird as there are bird lovers. Rice discusses several reasons: flight, song, color, identifications, games, surprises, conservation, stories and solace.
Rice’s book is a collection of stories: birding with a friend after he gets dementia; telling a grandson about owls; analyzing a great misidentification; listening to cranes; chasing rare birds, pelagic birds and life birds; canoeing on Christmas counts and more.
The book is also a tour of many of the top birding spots in California, from Tule Lake to the Salton Sea.
Rice’s birding resume includes conducting censuses for two breeding bird atlases, co-leading a Golden Gate Audubon Society (GGAS) birding backpack trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park for 30-plus years, and finding at least 150 birds in each of California’s 58 counties. He was on the board of directors of GGAS in the 1980s, and is a co-author of the Alameda County Breeding Bird Atlas. He works as a psychologist in private practice and lives in Berkeley.
Audubon Society programs are free and open to the public. The upcoming event will begin with refreshments at 7 p.m. and program at 7:15 p.m. at the Methodist Church Social Hall, 16255 Second St. in Lower Lake.
