The Birds in the Oaks

From Jack Gedney, author of Nature in Novato and The Private Lives of Public Birds, comes a new volume of essays on sixteen of our most-loved woodland birds: The Birds in the Oaks: Secret Voices of the Western Woods.

Like Private Lives before it, The Birds in the Oaks combines first-hand observation, contemporary science, and lyrical appreciation to delve deeper into the lives of birds both familiar and frequently overlooked. From common backyard visitors like titmice, chickadees, and woodpeckers to birdhouse-nesting favorites like bluebirds and flickers, and from oak savanna standouts like kestrels and violet-green swallows to the quiet winter visitors of the shady forests like Townsend’s warbler and hermit thrushes, The Birds in the Oaks presents warmly detailed portraits of the birds that make their homes in the woods of California. 

Where to Get The Birds in the Oaks

Signed copies of The Birds in the Oaks are available now at Wild Birds Unlimited in Novato. You can also call the store at 415-893-0500 to place an order for home delivery.

To order online, visit our publisher Heyday, an independent nonprofit publisher and Berkeley institution dedicated to exploring California’s nature, culture, and history. 

Praise for The Private Lives of Public Birds

I’m a serious backyard birder with a library of over a hundred bird books. Gedney’s is now one of my top favorites.

The Private Lives of Public Birds is an affectionate love song to our most familiar feathered neighbors. Grounded in science but watered by the heart of a poet, this intimate and personal look at the lives of the birds we see every day invites us to slow down and look again.

With lyrical prose and joy-filled stories, this wise and generous book invites us to see better, listen better, and to celebrate the miracles happening around us in every yard and garden. If birds could read, they would say, This book gets it exactly right.