It's a book!

In May of 2011, an editor at Timber Press asked a friend of ours if she was interested in writing a birding guide for the Pacific Northwest.  Our friend said no thanks, but she knew of a husband and wife team that may be interested.

So out of nowhere came an opportunity for us to write a book and learn more about our favorite birds and our region in the process.  Neither of us worked a 9 to 5 job at the time, so we accepted the offer as fast as we could.

 

Harlequin Ducks by Greg Gilson

Once the deal was finalized, we selected 85 species that anyone interested in birding can find and enjoy watching, with a little direction.

 

Sandhill Crane by Scott Carpenter

We brainstormed a colorful description of each bird’s personality and gleaned information about its life history from our field notes and scientific literature.

Mountain Bluebird by Jen Sanford

We also tapped into online resources to choose specific locations to find each bird in Oregon and/or Washington.

 

In 2011 and 2012, we loaded up the old Subaru and visited as many of these places as possible to confirm that the birds were, in fact, where we said they would be.

 

We visited rocky beaches on the Oregon coast,

 

the waterways that compose Washington’s Salish Sea,

 

the pine forests of central Oregon,

 

central Washington’s wine-and-canyon country,

 

and the chilly Skagit Valley in northwest Washington.

 

Whenever we confirmed a bird’s presence, celebrations ensued. 

 

During this time, we added over a dozen species to each of our life lists, visited more than 200 birding sites, and tasted many local beers. 

 

We bundled groups of our favorite places into a chapter of weekend birding trips. We hope that readers will have as much fun visiting these areas as we did.

 

Cover photo by Lois Miller

Timber Press combined our text with beautiful work from local photographers to build a stunning book. We are thrilled that our two-year birding odyssey, with its joys of travel and challenges of writing, reached a successful conclusion and resulted in a tangible product. Though the book is out, our work continues. We will be traveling the region once again this fall to promote Must-see Birds of the Pacific Northwest at a variety of venues. We look forward to revisiting our favorite birds and birding spots, and we can't wait to share what we learned about them with others.