What to Read Next: The Secrets of Feathers

Volume 9, Issue #6

Happy Friday, readers!

Spring officially arrives today! Even though we still have about a foot of snow on the ground here in Northern Minnesota, the air has a hint of warmth, the ice is disappearing from the lakes, and most importantly, the birds are coming back.

Though I was able to spy on a few pileated woodpeckers and bald eagles this winter, along with uncountable numbers of crows and ravens, I look forward to getting our region’s huge variety of spring and summer birds back. In that vein, today’s newsletter features two excellent books that are all about feathers.

P.S. Don’t miss my recent Art of Manliness article on birding.

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The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne by Chris Sweeney

One of the coolest things I’ve learned this year: the Smithsonian Institution employs a small team dedicated entirely to feather forensics. Most of their work tackles aircraft bird strikes (small feathers get analyzed to determine species/size), but the team also handles smuggling, poaching, and even murder cases.

That team can trace its history back to one pioneering woman who made a lasting mark on the field of ornithology: Roxie Laybourne.

Roxie was a go-getter from the second she arrived in this world. Along with most women growing up in the early 20th century, she wasn’t exactly encouraged to have a mind or career of her own. But Roxie had a deep passion for birds and for aviation that she couldn’t shake.

Author Chris Sweeney tells Roxie’s story from start to finish, while also giving great background and context on the science of avian forensics — particularly in the realm aircraft bird strikes. Birds have causes thousands of deaths since the invention of airplanes and to this day still cost airlines (and their insurers) millions of dollars annually.

This may be one of those subjects you don’t think you’re at all interested in, but I’d encourage you to give it a shot. Between all the bird stuff, there are some great insights on passion, craft, and doing something well over the long haul. I loved The Feather Detective.

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

This review was originally published in February 2023.

Fly tying, for the uninitiated, is the craft of making “flies” — or lures — for fly fishing. What’s interesting about this community is that the elite fly tyers don’t even necessarily fish. They’re in it to make the most beautiful flies with the rarest materials — which often means the feathers of endangered or even extinct birds.

This is the world that Kirk Wallace Johnson dives into for the sake of solving the 2009 mystery of hundreds of dead birds stolen from a famed natural history museum on the outskirts of London.

I loved Johnson’s storytelling from the first page. He explores the odd history of rare ornithological specimens, how the fly tying community became such an obsessive lot, and why a young man decided he needed to steal suitcases worth of birds from a poorly secured English institution.

Books about obsession are like catnip for me. What’s fun about this one is that the author gets as infatuated with his investigation as the fly tyers are about their feathers.

The Feather Thief is a quick, engrossing read about something you never thought you could possibly care about. I love it when that happens.

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Thanks for reading and be good to each other,

-Jeremy