TURNING TO BIRDS

How an actor became an “ambassador for birds.”

Many people discovered birding during the Covid-19 pandemic, opening their eyes to the creatures that live among us but that so often go ignored. Taylor had a similar awakening about 15 years ago. Taking an “emotional sabbatical,” the actor left New York City to decompress at her house a couple hours to the north, surrounded by farmland. There, away from the city noise, her senses came alive. “There were things going on out in the yard: stories, drama, mating, fighting, death,” she writes. “During that time of personal quiet, I entered a world of sound outside myself—and I’ve never left.” In this infectiously exuberant collection of short essays, Taylor describes how she brought her passion for birding back to New York City, where she regularly keeps an eye out for these “flying dinosaurs,” tracking them on the BirdsEye app in her Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond. “Wherever I am, wherever I listen,” she writes, “I can tap into that profound energy of survival and draw power from it.” A thoughtful actor, Taylor wisely finds parallels to birding. The skill she most prizes in her work is listening—focusing her attention on the actor with whom she shares a scene. Investigation is another valuable skill, she believes. She likens herself to a “kind of psychological detective, tracking piece after piece of emotional information.” Similarly, she writes, “It’s hard not to be inspired to investigate when looking at a bird. In following birds, I have discovered insects, trees, plants, radar, navigation, drawing, painting, oceans, deserts, forests, and people. In essence, the world.” Birding also gives Taylor welcome breaks when on the road for film shoots. Keep an eye out: That just might be her at your local hardware store, stocking up on birding supplies while in town.

A delightful celebration of the joys of birding—and how it leads one to look at the world in a new light.