Review by Rebecca M. Alvin
It might be surprising to find a book about birds written by an actress rather than an ornithologist, but Lili Taylor’s new book is about more than just our fine feathered friends. The actress turned writer is as adept at writing about the mysterious lives of birds and the birder communities that love them, as she is at acting in films ranging from her debut in Mystic Pizza (1988) to independent film classics Household Saints (1993) and I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), to her recent role as the governor of New York in the Marvel Comics television show Daredevil: Born Again. The book details Taylor’s fascination with birds over a period of years, but more than just a book about birds, the book is about her fascination with them and is written in a voice that will have you as excited and curious about them as she is.
For this review, I listened to the audiobook version of Turning to Birds, which is read by Taylor, adding a personal nuance to the text. But nevertheless, the writing is what truly grabs you in this book. Mostly undertaking her birding preoccupations alone, Taylor tells of her excitement at finding others who shared her enchantment with finches, woodcocks, cranes, and all types of birds as she attends her first birding festival. Through these fellow travelers, she learns tips for spotting birds, proper use of binoculars (or “bins” as they call them), but also an understanding of the plight of birds as they continue to adapt with more or less success to the human world of 24/7 light pollution, air traffic, and architectural features that can help or hinder their migrations.
As solitary as her birding is for the most part, she does recount a lovely story of birding with her mother, as they both became invested in tracking chimney swifts, an interesting breed that in some ways resembles the swallow, but is distinct in its flying patterns and near-constant flight, as well as its adaptation of using human-made structures for its nests—most often, as you might suspect from the name, chimneys.
Taylor’s keen observations and vivid and reflective writing style place the world of birds and the world of the humans who watch birds into a unique paradigm. Issues of barriers to migratory needs, light pollution, and an incident in which Taylor must confront the natural but disturbing competitive behaviors of house sparrows and eastern bluebirds, all come to light and have us thinking about our role in protecting birds versus leaving them alone. Ultimately, the thing about Turning to Birds is it is an incredibly generous sharing of one woman’s obsession with birds, telling us more about humanity than you might expect.
Lili Taylor will be in conversation about Turning to Birds with local artist and cartographer Mark Adams, at the Provincetown Bookshop, 229 Commercial St., on Wednesday, August 19, 4 – 5 p.m. The event is free and the book is available in the store. For more information, to purchase the book in advance, and to RSVP (appreciated, but not required) call 508.487.0964 or visit provincetownbookshop.com. She will also have a free book event at the Wellfleet Public Library, 55 West Main St. at 7 p.m. on Monday, August 17. Call 508.349.0310 or visit wellfleetlibrary.org.
