Creating BIRD TALK was the culmination of a life-long passion for watching and drawing birds.
From an early age I was exposed to birds in an intense way. My grandparents were ornithologists (scientists who studied birds) and lived in an old farmhouse filled with a menagerie of owls, hawks, and eagles. We studied hawks on the marsh in the early mornings and raised a variety of orphaned or injured birds. Some grew strong and were released back to the wild. Others stayed for a lifetime. One bird in particular was a favorite of my grandmother’s, who worked for years to breed endangered golden eagles in captivity. Each spring the eagle called sharply, and my grandmother responded by bringing sticks. Then together they built a nest. She observed her eagle so carefully; she could practically talk to it. I grew up watching this intimate relationship between ornothologist and bird, and developed a huge respect for how complex and diverse bird communication skills are.
As my grandparents worked on their research with birds of prey, I found my own area of interest. I recorded songbirds in the mornings before school so I could learn to identify them by their calls. At night, I lay in bed and listened to the screeching of rescued barn owlets, who liked to roost on the top of my grandmother’s refrigerator. One summer, when a storm took a tree snag down, I rescued several baby starlings that were nested in its trunk. I kept one of them and was tickled when it soon began to mimic the calls of my parakeet.
My parents were wildlife photographers and we watched many birds in the wild as well. In the spring before dawn, we hiked the high desert and listened to Sage Grouse boom. Their ritual performance made me laugh—I thought their puffed up chests and inflated air sacs looked like hard-boiled eggs.
But my favorite memory was canoeing alongside Western Grebes as they danced on water for their annual spring mating ritual.
As an adult I sketched the birds I watched and noted their calls and behaviors, piecing together what those calls meant. I read everything I could find about how and why birds communicate. And I wanted to create a book that explored this fascinating topic for young readers. With the illustrations for Bird Talk, I wanted to create a visual record of the exquisite forms of bird communication. What fascinates me most about bird communications isn’t just how they sing, but how they dance, strut, boom, and bob to make their meanings clear. The most rewarding part of creating Bird Talk was capturing these bird gestures with loose sketches and light color washes. What a joyful journey it’s been to grow that quiet kid who got up two hours early to watch and draw birds before school, to writing and illustrating a book about them.
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Hi,Lita,
Really lovely work and the post!! What a wonderful and rich “preliminary research” time you had in childhood!
Kind regards,Sadami
Hi Lita, We are a new magazine specialising in small pets and wondered if you would like to have Bird Talk reviewed by us on our Book Reviews Page. If you are interested please email me at the above address.
Kind Regards
Susan
Editor
I was looking up Fran Hamerstrom online and I found the link to you. I met her in 1965 in Wisconsin, when I was about 16. I was hanging out with my friend Tracy at her house on North Lake. Her father Harry Croy was doing work with I think ruffed grouse habitat and other bird activities in Wisconsin and apparently knew the Hamerstroms. Fran and her hustand (Henry?) pulled into their driveway in a van or pickup with a cap on the back, and a dead cat on the roof. They had found the cat on the road and stopped to get it for bird food as it was nice and fresh. They had a golden eagle and at least one other bird, I think a big owl. Fran sawed off a piece of the cat and fed it to the birds. She asked me if I would like to hold the eagle. I sure would! She gave me the glove and handed it over. It walked onto my arm and looked me straight in the eye. I felt like I was hynotized for a little bit. It was great. I said something to that effect and she said “I’m going to put that in my next book”. I don’t know if she did but I remember that she said it. I told my father about that experience. He was a forester and he appreciated the story. After he died I found a journal he wrote about those special moments when you feel at one with nature. My experience of meeting Fran’s golden eagle was one of those stories. I looked up Fran online, I never realized what a huge personality she was! Not only that, but she studied with Aldo Leopold, one of my father’s most admired writers and naturalists. So that’s what inspired me to look up Fran, and it was great to read about her and to see that you are carrying on her work. Lately I have been wondering why the lone red tail in my background cries hour after hour in a plaintive 2 note wail. He just sits in a tree and makes this call. If a person were crying out a warning “away! away!” that is the tone of this call. I’ll read your bird talk book and maybe find an answer. Onward and best of luck to you.
Hi Betsy, What a fun story! Reminiscent of many I’ve heard about my grandmother. Thank you so much for writing!!
I’m working on another animal behavior book now, as well as more fictional stories inspired by animals. Fran will always be such an inspiration to me.
Lita