Perhaps you have a field guide to Texas birds, or you’ve thumbed through one. They have a beautiful painting of a bird with a description of their range and scientific nomenclature. Kent Rylander, at the time a professor of biology at Texas Tech University, took that one step further by describing the complex lives of our feathered cohabitants. While we all live in the same world, our lives don’t intersect with wild birds often, and much of their lives is a mystery. About half of the behaviors described in this wildly unpredictable guide were from his original research, so Kent spent a great deal of time observing Texas birds and other birds in the writing of this book.
A Texas Tech staffer once told me that Kent had the reputation of being the best teaching professor the University had ever had. When Kent does a public presentation, come early to get a seat, as the room will be full. I never took a course from Kent, but in an event sponsored by the Native Plant Society of Texas, which I attended, Kent got a standing ovation at the conclusion an hour-long presentation. The talk ended with a stirring 10-minute description of how a woodpecker’s tongue works. I’m not kidding, it was fascinating.
