ABC met on July 23rd for our 2nd annual book discussion. This year we read “The Thing with Feathers” by Noah Strycker, as suggested by Jerry Broadus last year. The discussion was conducted ably by Kay Pullen, and everyone who wanted to got a chance to give their opinions. Every chapter was touched upon.

A highlight was the presence of Bruce LaBar, who gave a report of birding in Colombia with Noah earlier this summer as part of Noah’s Big Global Year, an attempt to reach 5000 world species in one year. Bruce reported that Noah, still in his 20s, has the brains and stamina to make anything work, and those following Noah’s Big Year blog are certainly believers. Bruce also said Noah has a kind of “magic” to make the right birds appear for him.

A/V included 2 short internet videos, including:

For the second chapter, “Spontaneous Order,” we watched the original video of the huge starling flocks in Ireland doing their aerial displays. See it here:

For the chapter, “Beat Generation,” check out Snowball’s video at:

The discussion was mostly celebratory with a few nods towards maybe too much anthropomorphism from Ken and Ed. Most people had a favorite chapter or observation.

Noah is maintaining a blog in connection with his Big Year and will eventually do a book on it as well. The blog is at: http://www.audubon.org/features/birding-without-borders

If you have a suggestion about a compelling book about birds for next summer, let Kay know at kaypullen@me.com.

We had a few minutes left, so the discussion shifted towards discussion of the movie shown at the Grand Cinema this week to which many of us went, “Emptying the Skies,” concerning the ongoing slaughter of songbirds in Europe as they migrate across the Mediterranean. It was educational, but shocking even to those who knew about it.

Here’s part of the group discussing the book including Bruce Labar (front left) and moderator Kay Pullen (white blouse 3rd from right). Click to enlarge.