BIRD CITY

With a reporter’s knack for accuracy and a storyteller’s flair for what’s fun, Ryan Goldberg gives us a four-season birder’s-eye view of the Big Apple—with insights on what makes feathered pursuits so special in any city.

Bird City is one of the best books I’ve ever read about the birds of a special place, and the people who pay attention to them. It’s written with such verve and insight that it will appeal to readers far beyond the limits of New York.

Bird City is a wild romp through a surprisingly wild city. It’s everything a good nature book should be: enlightening and surprising, quirky and sombre, rooted in history, with a cast of curious characters, both human and avian. You’ll never look at NYC the same way again—and you’ll find yourself rushing out to buy a pair of binoculars and join in the fun.

Did the founders of New York know that they were building a city in the shadow of one of the most important bird super-highways on the planet? Goldberg gives us that rare and precious thing: a totally new perspective on familiar places. This book will change how you see your neighborhood and all the wonderful creatures that live there too.

Bird City is a fascinating look at the people who see New York not as a city, but as an ecosystem. Ryan Goldberg’s curiosity about the city’s birds and the birders who track them offer an illuminating glimpse into the value of urban birding in the twenty-first century.