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Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds is a one-of-a-kind Washington State bird guide. The anthology includes original pen and ink sumi-e paintings by artist Hiroko Seki, bird fact notes, and short poems/stories/memoir. Poems/prose are bird-focused rather than human centered. The bird notes include information about song, call, mating rituals, habitat, migration, climate, dark comedy, and fun facts.
There's a saying among people who look up at the sky to view birds-the more you study birds, the smarter they become. That's the inside joke for the title of this anthology. Birdbrains is a compliment to the birds and to the humans who take time to study them. For example, Magpies can recognize themselves in the mirror; Chickadees collect one thousand seeds a day, hide them over miles, and then find them again; and crows frequently hold crow funerals after one of their own dies-first there is stillness, then quiet, then keening. From the most common Rock Pigeon, to the rare Mystērium Rara Avis, we hope this collection will offer you wonder and joy. Get up from wherever you are sitting right now and go outdoors, binoculars or not. Watch what is happening all around us. With the right kind of attention, what might we see?
Birdbrains brings to the stage 107 species of Washington birds in the words of ninety-eight talented poets and writers. The
contributors come from different regions of Washington State, from other parts of the USA, and even from faraway lands such as Ireland. In the mix of talent, there are contributions from four Washington State Poet Laureates (Elizabeth Austen,
Claudia Castro Luna, Kathleen Flenniken, and Derek Sheffield), three Pulitzer Prize winners (Rae Armantrout, Ted Kooser, and Diane Seuss) and a special collaborative poem by Ann Teplick's young students at Seattle Children's.
