Do you ever wonder who it is that’s keeping you up at night, chirping to their little heart’s content outside your window? Could it be a pinewood finch? How about a barn swallow? Well, birds come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and we sure have our fair share of variety here at Puget Sound! It’s a little hard to swallow, so if curiosity gets the best of you, I wrencommend you come and check out the Archives & Special Collections’ over-sized book collection. The Birds of North America, published in 1888 (coincidence?), includes a nest-full of eggcellent information regarding just about any bird you’ll encounter in the Continental U.S. Additionally, “one hundred and nineteen artistic colored plates representing the different species and varieties” are contained within the gold-gilt pages, dovely for any aspiring ornithologist or talonted bird-watcher. So sparrow moment to come and see it! You won’t egret it!
By Monica Patterson