Some personal news, as they say: I’m writing a book called STATE BIRD, to be published by Norton in 2027. I’m going to trace the weird history of how we started electing state birds (it appears that I’ve made a discovery about this that no one else knows, which is thrilling to me), and cover some of the absurd political battles that have erupted over the choice of state bird (I’m looking at you, Florida), and tell some of the truly amazing conservation stories that have come about because we engaged in this peculiar civic exercise of choosing a bird to represent us.
It’s a delightful project that involves a ridiculous amount of research and the opportunity for many amazing road trips. Next week I’m headed to New Mexico, Arizona, and Florida, and then I’ll be home for a breather and gone again. I won’t travel to every state in the country this year, but I’ll be hitting some highlights and hopefully I’ll have some stories to share from the road. The book will, I hope, be published in spring 2027.
If you have an interesting state bird story of any kind, hit me up!