If you’re wildly passionate or even just casually interested in birds, you won’t want to miss Gail Karlsson’s presentation about her new book “Looking for Birds on St. John.”
Karlsson will be signing copies of this new book (published in partnership with the Virgin Islands Audubon Society) and inviting discussion about local birds Saturday from 6 to 7 p.m. at Bajo El Sol Gallery & Art Bar in Cruz Bay. The event is free.
“Looking for Birds on St. John” is the result of years of patient observation and meticulous photography by Karlsson, and so far, it’s received rave reviews.
“It’s the best bird guide for St. John anywhere,” said Audubon Society board member Angela Ebner. “It’s informative without being overwhelming. And it has interesting little facts that help you remember the bird later.”
Karlsson says she wanted to write a book that was informative yet conversational (“I like chitchat,” she says.) and light enough for people to carry around and take notes in.
“I think this book fills a huge void,” said Phyllis Benton, cofounder of St. John Wildlife Rehabilitation. “When I moved down to St. John, I found many beautiful comprehensive books on Caribbean birds, but I could not find anything about this part of the island chain. Our birds are not the same as on Grand Cayman or Trinidad. On Bonaire, I’ve seen something that looks like a cousin of a ‘thrushee’ — or Pearly-eyed Thrasher — but it’s not identical.”
Karlsson’s book seeks to identify common birds seen around the house, along the road or by the shore, as well as birds that fly down to St. John for the winter; she also includes common migratory birds on their way somewhere else and some “local celebrities,” like flamingos and ibises.
several years, the Fish Bay Scarlet Ibis had a very close relationship with a Snowy Egret. I imagined them as star-crossed lovers. (Photo by Gail Karlsson)
“Once you learn to recognize local birds and the sounds they make, you can feel like you have new friends and neighbors,” she writes in the book’s introduction. “You might hear them calling and look up to say: ‘Those are White-winged Doves on the wire.’”
Karlsson had a career as an attorney fighting for environmental causes and human rights when she began writing books about nature on St. John, including “The Wild Life in an Island House” and a guide book “Learning About Trees and Plants” — A Project of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of St. John.
When Karlsson began taking weekly bird walks with former park ranger Laurel Brannick, she found she preferred to focus her attention on what she could see through a good camera lens.
Readers of the Source are probably familiar with her articles about nature that appear monthly if not more often. Click here for her recent story.
For a certified migratory bird rehabilitator like Benton, Karlsson’s book is essential. “All of the birds we see down here, except for introduced species like chickens and exotics like peacocks, are on the International Migratory Treaty Protection List. The Virgin Islands is on the Atlantic Flyway and a bit of the Mississippi Flyway, and I don’t know all of these birds. It’s important that I know what’s coming in for care,” Benton said.
Karlsson’s book is on sale at Bajo El Sol Gallery & Art Bar and other locations in the Virgin Islands as well as on Amazon.
