What can birds tell us about ourselves? In her almost thirty-year career as a bird rehabilitator, Julie Zickefoose has come to know wild birds as unique animals, each with its own personality, habits, and quirks. And in her new book, Julie shows off those personalities—whether it is the male wren who placed his two nests strategically so that his two mates couldn't see one another; or the bobwhite that would rush out of the woods and challenge her husband every time he pulled his car into the driveway. Because of Julie's inability to walk away from a bird that needs help, her life has been profoundly affected by her connections with individual birds; they have had just as big an impact on her life as she has on theirs. Sometimes the impact is physical: while raising baby hummingbirds, she must feed them every twenty minutes, which means if she wants to go out—say, to buy groceries—she has to carry the constantly peeping chicks with her. Sometimes it's emotional: when birds she is raising or rehabilitating die, her sadness is very real. Each of twenty-five chapters features a different species. Illustrated throughout with more than 300 of Julie's paintings and drawings, this is a meditative and humorous look at one woman's life among the birds.