Stokes in Boston Globe, Sat. March 5th

The Boston Globe will have a wonderful article Sat. March 5th in the feature section "g" about us and our new book, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Globe Correspondent, Joel Brown did an extensive interview with us about our career and attitude about bird watching. I am quoted as saying, "I get just as thrilled with seeing the beautiful male cardinal just singing and singing in my yard as I did over 20 years ago."

When asked "What bird do you want to see most?" Donald said, "Every bird, better."

The full article is already online here.

Some quotes from the article,

"Bird watching is not just about distinguishing between, for example, a semipalmated plover and a piping plover, or knowing the difference between a bobwhite and a bobolink. It’s about forging a lasting connection to the natural world, according to best-selling authors Donald and Lillian Stokes, who (having written dozens of birding books) know a thing or two about being in the wild.

It’s not like there are humans and then there’s nature,’’ Donald said. “You can’t draw a line between us and the things around us.’’

That said, for those who do want detailed information about plovers, sparrows, and hundreds of other winged creatures, the couple is there for you. Their acclaimed latest book, “The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America,’’ took six years to compile and covers 854 species in 816 pages.

The Stokes, who live in New Hampshire, will talk about the book — their 31st — as keynote speakers today at the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s 19th annual all-day Birders Meeting at Bentley University in Waltham.

Lillian took more than 500 of the 3,400 brilliant color photos in the Stokes guide, earning it a place on the shelf alongside... classic field guides...

“I think it’s fantastic,’’ said Wayne Petersen, director of Mass Audubon’s Massachusetts Important Bird Areas Program and co-editor of the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas. “The quality of the images and the sort of telegraphic text accompanying the images . . . is a very, very tough act to follow.’’

“The other day somebody reported that they might have had a yellow-legged gull up in Gloucester harbor, which is a European gull that would be very unusual here, but possible,’’ said Stephen Moore of Northborough, a veteran birder. “Most of the field guides, if you got any pictures of yellow-legged gulls you’d be lucky, but in this one they’ve got nine separate pictures of yellow-legged gulls. . . . It’s very helpful.’’

“I’m one who believes you should be looking at the bird, and afterward you can go look at your field guide,’’ said Sue McGrath, founder of the Newburyport Birders. “I think all birders will be using this, at all levels.’’

Neither Stokes keeps a traditional birder’s “life list’’ of all the species they’ve seen, but they do keep a list of the more than 190 species of birds they’ve seen at Bobolink Farm. And they’re never bored with the everyday.

“I get just as thrilled with seeing that beautiful male cardinal just singing and singing in my yard as I did over 20 years ago,’’ said Lillian.

“People say, ‘What bird do you want to see most?’ ’’ Donald added. “And we say, ‘Every bird, better.’ ’’