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Mike Stark
@mike-stark.bsky.social
370 followers 44 following 28 posts
Author of Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird (March 2025) + Creative Director at the Center for Biological Diversity + Tucson + Music
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mike-stark.bsky.social
Well, sheesh. My book on starlings (surprising title: Starlings) is among the 2025 favorites from the Washington Independent Review of Books @wirobooks.bsky.social.

#Books #Birds #Naturewriting #Birdwatching

www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/our...
Our 51 Favorite Books of 2025 | Washington Independent Review of Books
The Independent is an important voice in the community of readers and writers dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books.
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:48 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
"This is a book for anyone willing to spend a little time considering a species that birders and non-birders alike have conditioned themselves to ignore, and the tenderness with which Stark narrates both their faults and their ruggedness deserves praise." #Birds

academic.oup.com/condor/advan...
Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird, by Mike Stark
Few birds get as much bad press as the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). It’s a nuisance to farmers, a bore to birders, and a bother to the many civil
academic.oup.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:02 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
I'd never grouse about being compared to a cloud of starlings:

“Starlings is both highly readable and deeply entertaining, tracing how starlings went from a solution to a problem. Stark’s book dips and weaves like a starling murmuration...”

#Birds #Naturewriting

networks.h-net.org/group/review...
July 25, 2025 at 11:27 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Honored to have my book on starlings included in Nautilus (@nautil.us ) magazine’s top 10 books of the summer for curious minds…maybe these pesky birds aren’t so bad after all.

#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding

www.instagram.com/reel/DMDUD7k...
July 15, 2025 at 12:23 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Thx to Orange Blossom Ordinary for an insightful discussion of my book about starlings and our complicated relationship with the wild things around us. Find it here:

www.orangeblossomordinary.com/reviews/look...

#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding
July 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Mike Stark
nautil.us
The consensus amongst ornithologists, bird-watchers, farmers, etc., is that starlings rank somewhere between a low-grade pest and a waking nightmare. Author Mike Stark asks, how do we decide whether a species is a worthy one, deserving of our protection and admiration? 🧪
The Most Charming Villain in the Sky
Author Mike Stark on the 3 greatest revelations he had while writing his new book about starlings
nautil.us
May 12, 2025 at 7:04 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Kind words re: my book from the president of the Rachel Carson Council: “Starlings is at once one of the most entertaining, readable, and profound bird books I have ever read.”

#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding

Read the whole review:

rachelcarsoncouncil.org/mike-stark-s...
Mike Stark, Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird (Bison Books, 2025) - Rachel Carson Council
Should we progressives care about the fate of immigrants brought to the United States against their will? Can they even dream of citizenship? Rachel Carson, with her excess of empathy for all living c...
rachelcarsoncouncil.org
April 28, 2025 at 4:05 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Starlings reviewed in the Wall Street Journal: “This compelling book hits its stride with a ghastly chronicle of every tactic humans have employed in the battle against massive flocks and hopeless odds…”

#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘Starlings’ Review: The Backyard Bird We Love to Hate
Plus “A Dumb Birds Field Guide to the Worst Birds Ever.”
www.wsj.com
April 15, 2025 at 12:16 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Pleased to have the good folks at @nautil.us running an excerpt from Starlings. #Birds #Books #NatureWriting
nautil.us Nautilus Magazine @nautil.us · Apr 11
Historically, starlings were among the most hated birds in North America. Indeed, famed biologist Rachel Carson once quipped that the starling “probably has fewer friends than almost any other creature that wears feathers.” 🧪
The Starlings’ Curious Odyssey
A legacy of the most hated bird in America
nautil.us
April 11, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Mike Stark
wirobooks.bsky.social
"Have these winged wonders finally earned acceptance?" www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/s... @univnebpress.bsky.social #booksky
April 4, 2025 at 10:49 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
When bird brains collide: I had fun chatting about Starlings with Hannah over at the Bird Nerd Book Club podcast.

#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding

www.buzzsprout.com/2118082/epis...
Mike Stark - Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird - Bird Nerd Book Club
Mike Stark’s Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird is a first-of-its-kind history of starlings in America, an oddball, love-hate story at the intersection of human folly, ornithology, an...
www.buzzsprout.com
March 28, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Mike Stark
univnebpress.bsky.social
"This combination of human and natural history is a captivating read," writes Nancy Bent for @ala-booklist.bsky.social of STARLINGS by @mike-stark.bsky.social.

Get your copy: bit.ly/4i7B7OS
Cover of "Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird"
March 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
If you're one of about 140,000 book-lovers going to the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend, on Saturday I'll be on a panel about writing and wildlife at 10 am and signing books at 1 pm Stop by if you're starling-curious, starling-furious or love birds.

tucsonfestivalofbooks.org?action=displ...
Tucson Festival of Books | Mike Stark
tucsonfestivalofbooks.org
March 14, 2025 at 1:41 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Thanks to Arizona Spotlight and azpm.bsky.social for having me on to talk about Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird ... my interview starts around 18:00

#Books #Birds #Booksky #NatureWriting #Wildlife #Birding

news.azpm.org/p/news-topic...
Two new books that bring important histories to light.
news.azpm.org
March 13, 2025 at 1:21 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
“Particularly in winter ... the starling ... added [a] bit of life in the landscape and a note of joy in the bleakness.” – Ornithologist Frank Chapman, 1907

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Birdnerd #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 6, 2025 at 12:27 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
“The starling, by all accounts, is the orneriest, cussedest and in every way the most disagreeable and destructive bird known to man.” – San Bernardino Sun, 1960

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Birdnerd #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 6, 2025 at 12:20 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
“The starling is a sphinx-like bird and ordinarily treats other birds with a sort of contemptuous tolerance.” – Ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush, 1916

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 5, 2025 at 12:03 AM
mike-stark.bsky.social
“You can hear the noise of all the wings beating. At times they appeared like a swarm of bees, other times like a truly massive swirling cloud...like colliding galaxies…” – Starling murmuration witness, 2019

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 4, 2025 at 11:56 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
“Chortling, wheezing, gabbling and whistling, they flock as dense as a black storm cloud, casting sarcastic comments on the passerby ... ” – Naturalist Donald Peattie, 1926

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 4, 2025 at 11:50 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
“In spite of his remarkable success as a pioneer, the starling probably has fewer friends than almost any other creature with feathers.” – Biologist and writer Rachel Carson, 1939

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 4, 2025 at 11:42 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
My book, Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird is finally out and I thought I’d share some of the ways they’ve vexed and fascinated over the years. Stand by ...

@univnebpress.bsky.social #NatureWriting
#Books #Birds #Booksky #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
March 4, 2025 at 11:34 PM
mike-stark.bsky.social
Finally diving in here ... Bird lovers and the Starling Curious: My book on the strange history of starlings is heading into world, the product of a minor obsession the past few years. @univnebpress.bsky.social #Books #Birds #Booksky #Birdnerd #Nature #Wildlife #Birding
January 31, 2025 at 10:32 PM