Ornithologist Sophie Osborn on the Joys, Trials, Trails, and Tears of Saving Endangered Birds

Last spring, my friend Bryan McGrath (conservativewa...) mentioned a new book he felt eager to read - Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds (amzn.to/40eE3kT) , by Sophie Osborn. Earlier, Bryan wrote about the Merlin Bird ID (merlin.allabou...) app from Cornell University, which had transformed my walks in nature. Suddenly, rather than merely hearing a bird singing nearby, I could quickly and easily identify it - and usually numerous other birds picked up by the app that I, too, could enjoy if I listened with a touch more attention.
So when Bryan mentioned Sophie’s book, and her companion Substack, Words for Birds (wordsforbirds....) , I felt drawn to check them out. I subscribed to her Substack and ordered the book. They were two of the best decisions I made in 2024.
Sophie beautifully weaves together her story with lovely nature writing with the science of bird decline and the potential, along with the immense work required, for population renewal. To say I loved Feather Trails massively undersells it. Of the 50 books I read last year, it was one of my top 3 reads. I’m not alone: the Birding Book Club of the American Birding Association named it one of the Best Books of 2024 (www.aba.org/08...) .
At my request, Bryan kindly introduced Sophie and me late last year. We enjoyed a couple expansive and splendid conversations. Finally, I asked Sophie if I could interview her for “Walks of Life,” and she generously agreed.
A few points stood out during our talk, and my subsequent reflections.
We think of human individuals, but less so about animals. Rather, we have a concept of “tigers” or “sharks” or even larger groups like “birds. Sophie’s book and our talk brought home how different and distinct individual animals are. The individual California Condors she worked with exhibited very distinct and unique personalities. On my walks now, I find myself wondering about the singular characteristics of a squirrel I see, for example. I likely will never know, but because of Sophie, I know that squirrel is, in some ways, a true original.
Sophie also noted the profound instinct to play among the birds she worked with. For some reason, I see that instinct in my dogs, Olivia and Otis, every day. But I had never considered that other, less domesticated, animals might possess a similar yearning for playfulness. The world seemed a brighter place for Sophie highlighting that revelation in her work.
At one point in our talk, Sophie indicated that occasionally she mis-identifies birds she hears or sees. Not often, but it does happen. It reminded me that we make mistakes even in our areas of profound expertise. It was a refreshing, and human, admission - and a useful reminder for me to have patience with myself when, I, too, make mistakes in my (supposed) areas of “mastery.”
Enjoy! And, again, thank you, Sophie!
Sophie, thank you so much for joining me. This is awesome.
It's a thrill to be here. Thanks, Russell.
I loved your book, Feather Trails. It was one of my top books of the year. Top two or three books of the entire year. I loved it, and I just can't wait to talk about it.
I'm thrilled that you liked it. I think that's amazing. I really am excited about that.
The book and your newsletter have inspired me to care more about birds and bird watch a little bit and certainly as I go for my walks in nature, pay more attention to birds and the sounds and the sights I see as I go about those walks.
That's fantastic. That was one of my major hopes in writing this book - to see if I could interest more people in the world of birds by writing about my adventures with birds and my dealings with them. So that's exactly what I had hoped would happen.
Let's kick off my questions. I'd love to just hear you talk about your career with birds and what your favorite role with birds has been.
I've been lucky to have a lot of years in the field with birds, researching them, conserving them and reintroducing endangered birds to the wild. Reintroducing birds to the wild has been the real highlight. Whenever I was out there helping these really rare endangered birds get back out in the wild and make it, I always felt like I was doing something of value and something important.
Every day I was out there, it felt meaningful and important. And I really loved that. It felt like I was doing a critical thing to help the planet to help our bird life. And to help all those who care about birds by getting these birds back there in the wild. And I also loved it because when you are working with endangered species, there's often very few individuals left, so I came to know the individuals that I was working with really well. When you get to know individual birds, a lot of them have really unique and different personalities. It was so much fun to get to know them. I, of course, became ...