Are you visiting Washington state or have you recently relocated near Seattle? Have you noticed one of the hundreds of bird species here and wondered what it could be? Are you interested in the natural world and how it can thrive in urban settings? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then this book is for you....

50 Things to Know About Birds in Washington State: An Introduction to Birds in Urban Western Washington, by author Courtney DuPuy, offers an approach to viewing birds in their habitats around Western Washington as a part of the urban culture as much as a part of nature.

There are many wonderful birding books about birds in Washington by many incredibly intelligent people who have dedicated their lives to teaching others about the remarkable adaptability and variety of birds here. Most books on birds in Washington might tell you where you can go to some remote peninsula to view a nesting site on the edge of some unstable cliff where the birds are perhaps better left alone in any case. Although there's nothing wrong with that, I found that the urban sprawl of the Seattle area has been achieved with a good measure of eco-urban design in mind. Based on knowledge from the world's leading experts, habitats for birds in the urban areas in and surrounding Seattle are as numerous and varied as they are a surprising testament to nature’s quiet way of claiming space untended. More so, the lengths to which people here have gone to preserve avian habitat through funding, education, and research is an inspiring glimpse of a future into which I hope humanity’s interaction with our environment will continue.

In this book you'll discover how easy it is to step outside in the city here and find yourself in nature. We are nature, or at least the result of it. My hope is that this book will help you to find some connection in the hum of commuter traffic, see the wild on your way to get groceries in the Safeway parking lot, or wonder about the strip of green next to the unraveling concrete and what exactly might thrive in such unlikelihood. I hope perhaps it will, in some small way, remind even the most avid materialist that nature’s hand is extended to all at any given moment.

By the time you finish this book, you will know a little bit more about how our complex societies hide complex societies of urban avian friends, so grab your copy today. You'll be glad you did.