I'm currently in the middle of REFUGE, by Terry Tempest Williams.
My friend became an avid birder within two months after reading it-- he
then insisted I read it too. He said he bought a field guide just to
help him with the book.

It's a true story about the death of the author's mother, in
conjunction with the rise of Great Salt Lake in 1986-7 that destroyed
much habitat at the Bear River Bird Refuge. Every chapter is named
after a bird species. Birds aside, it's the best book about death and
facing death I've ever read.

Steve Hampton Davis, CA

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From: Lise Bixler <lbixler at CATS.UCSC.EDU>

It's no surprise that Ross MacDonald's mystery books include bird
references - he and his wife, Margaret Millar, were founding members of
the Santa Barbara Audubon Society. Ms. Millar was a mystery writer, too,
and author of "The Birds and the Beasts Were There", a book about living
and birding in Santa Barbara, including a moving narrative about the
Coyote fire and its aftermath (Capra Press, 1967, 1991).