Never Bird In The Road: Memories and Lessons from a Lifetime of Birding

Never Bird In The Road is for birders - new birders, veteran birders, and those who may already be birders but just don't know it yet. Part memoir, part birding adventures, and part how-to, Never Bird In The Road is a fun read, packed with cool birds, cool places and great birding info.

The birding bug stung Tom Striker in forestry grad school. An outdoor final exam in Ornithology ("See that bird? Write it down...") sealed the deal and he's been behind binoculars ever since. The Forest Service took him to Lake Tahoe, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Vermont. Never a 'timber beast, ' his wildlife work included Kirtland's Warbler and the disastrous Mack Lake Fire, a 25,000 acre runaway prescribed burn that killed a co-worker and brought the Bird of Fire back from the edge of extinction. Minnesota black bears and black-backed woodpeckers, Wisconsin sharp-tailed grouse, and restoration of the Peregrine Falcon to a historic Vermont cliff were far from typical career moments.

Time out for an MBA and fifteen years with BellSouth, then early retirement to own a bird store in a quaint mountain town, headquarters for birding adventures to Florida, the Georgia Coast, the sky islands of Arizona and the below-sea-level Salton Sea. A Christmas Bird Count marred by a suicide at a favorite overlook, and a memorable charge by a Gopher Tortoise. Ten bird-filled days in Ecuador, back home to teach 'birding classes for old people, ' lead hundreds of bird walks and Saturday Seminars packed with details about bird feeding, dealing with squirrels and black bears, and attracting hummers, bluebirds and purple martins. If you have no birds or want to know birds, Never Bird In The Road is a good place to start.