Birds of Santa Cruz

A colorfully realized guide to the birds of Santa Cruz.

This charming, full-color guide to the birds of Santa Cruz is infused with California coastal soul and the quiet fierceness of love one can only derive from ardent attention. Author-illustrator Sophie Wood Brinker profiles 25 species you're likely to spot hopping the sands or soaring overhead in Surf City, and shares what we can learn not only about them but from them. From the collective organizing of the Brown Pelican, to the community protection of the California Quail, to the Band-Tailed Pigeon flock that Wood Brinker likens to a mutual aid cooperative, these birds have stories to tell.

Vivid hand-painted portraits accompanied by identification and song notes help everyone get to know their avian neighbors, with descriptions of each species that invoke reflections from Diane di Prima, Mary Oliver, and dreamers of all stripes. A joy to read and pore over, Birds of Santa Cruz shimmers with poetic sensibility and a conservationist ethos. Wood Brinker's findings, gleaned from patient observation, will enchant readers far beyond the city limits.

Sophie Wood Brinker (she/her) is a science illustrator who works with paint and pencil to communicate the brilliance and intricacy of the ecosystems that surround us. Her art scales from drawing the texture of butterfly wings to painting 15-foot protest banners. She also works in a small town library, helping spread library joy and community resources. As a Quaker, she grew up sitting in intergenerational circles hearing messages spoken out of silence. She has a BA in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College and is a graduate of the Science Illustration Program at California State University, Monterey Bay. Wood Brinker grew up in Santa Cruz, California, on unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe, and lives in Bolinas, California, on unceded Coast Miwok territory. sophiewoodbrinker.com